Torchwood: The First Step
by touched-but-unbroken
Summary: This is a Torchwood fan fic. It's set after episode five series 1 so ignore all the rest! As the chapters are pretty long it may take me a while to update, but I'll go as quickly as I can! Ianto/Tosh, Gwen/Owen, eventual/implied Jack/Ianto & Owen/Tosh
1. Chain Mail

_Author notes: ok basically I am absolutely obsessed with Torchwood, it is the most fantastic thing ever, with fantastic actors and fantastic props and fantastic sets and fantastic plots, and it's just so fantastic! No, I'm not obsessed at all… ok I AM I AM I AM I AM!!!!!!!! Man I thought Doctor Who was good but this show makes Doctor Who seem like third hand chewing gum wrapped in the sock of a murderer who hasn't washed it for five years!! I am serious people! Anyway. Back on topic. I'm kinda nervous about this fic cos it's the first one I've done which isn't Harry Potter. But I had all these ideas (Torchwood is currently my main topic for day dreaming. And I day dream a lot) and I thought… why not! So here goes, I hope you enjoy this, please leave comments telling me how you'd like me to improve the story, or if there's something you'd like me to include. Oh yeah and this is set after Episode Five: Small Worlds because that's when my imaginings occurred. So forget what happens in Countrycide and all other episodes afterwards because they're irrelevant to this story. I hope this can fill the time between now and whenever we see Torchwood again, I for one am filled with emptiness now it is over :(._

**Disclaimer: Characters etc belong to BBC, Russell T Davies, and so on. Plot lines belong to ME and if you steal them then I will set the Fairies on you. I warn you, I am a chosen one. If this is even half as good as the work of Russell, I will be well pleased.**

_**This chapter is dedicated to two of my friends, both called Alex, who both constantly put up with my raving over Torchwood and cries of "Watch it! Watch it! Watch it!"**_

* * *

Jack is having another dream; he is remembering things that he thought he had long forgotten. He dreams of holding a baby girl, and then the girl's a toddler, laughing and playing… then he dreams of the argument he had with her as a teenager. That was the last conversation they had before the explosion… the explosion that killed her and immortalised Jack… 

Jack woke with a start, sweating. He hadn't had a dream about her for a long time.

* * *

Chapter One- Chain Mail 

"What have we got?" Jack asked Toshiko. It was the next morning and Jack had completely forgotten his dream.

"Trails of destruction across several houses in south England. The first one happened last Thursday; the house was basically inside out when the owners got home. There was a note, with an address on it, apparently. The house of that address was destroyed three days later, with another address left on a note inside. That house was just down the street from the second one, and was burnt to the ground the Monday just gone. Everything was destroyed… apart from another note, another address. And so the chain goes on… there seems to be no pattern of address, or any particular link between the victims."

Jack frowned, deep in thought.

"Talk about mass destruction," Gwen said thoughtfully, while blue tacking the pictures of the destroyed houses and their owners to the wall. "Any ideas what could have done it, Jack?"

Jack chewed his lip meditatively and looked as if he was about to answer Gwen, but instead turned back to Toshiko. "The last place that was destroyed… you have the address that was left inside it?"

"Well, actually, no. Either there was no note, or the police are hiding something."

"Those police are always messing things up for us, making our job harder." Owen complained. "No offence, Copper Cooper."

Gwen smiled sarcastically. Recently, Owen had taken to insulting the police at any opportunity he got, and Gwen was getting increasingly annoyed.

Ianto entered the room, breaking the tension that had slowly been building up. "Coffee?" he asked, and the Torchwood 3 headquarters buzzed into action once more.

Owen stared thoughtfully at the pictures Gwen had just tacked up. "Have there been any casualties?" he asked.

"Just one," Toshiko replied. "An old man who live in the house which burned to the ground. Apparently his family were going to visit him and they just found the piece of paper. Well, there were no bones or anything, so we can't rule out the possibility that he's hiding, or been kidnapped or something. I think he was a bit of a nutter anyway."

"Peter Paepre, 75 years old. Wife died a year previously from cancer. He had a son and a daughter. His son was convicted of rape about a month after his mother's death, and is still in prison for various crimes, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if Peter was a nutter! His daughter, however, has done quite well for herself. She has a husband and twin boys. Shelley Carter; you may have heard of her, she's an author." Gwen filled the others in.

Owen opened a drawer and picked out a thick, white book with blue graphics on the cover. "Chain mail, Shelley J Carter," he said. "It's a work of genius."

Jack, who had been listening to these revelations in silence while he finished his coffee, sat up straighter. "How long since the last attack?"

"Three days," Ianto replied. He was standing behind Toshiko, avidly reading the information on the screen.

"And you're sure there was no note? Gwen, get me pictures of this house," Jack ordered.

"Before or after?" Gwen asked.

"After," he confirmed, and then added as an after thought, "and before. Tosh, get me CCTV of the house that burnt down, I want to see how it happened. Owen, get reading-" he pointed to the book still in Owen's hands, "- and make notes on anything useful you find."

Owen looked visibly perplexed, but did not question his orders.

"What about me?" Ianto asked.

"You, my boy, are coming with me," Jack replied, leading him over to his desk. He picked up a strange contraption; it looked a bit like a remote control with an antennae sticking out of one end. There was a small screen at the other end. He passed it to Ianto. "I think it's a locator of some sort, but I'm not certain. See what you can find out, but be very careful." He slapped Ianto on the back, and then went to see how everyone was getting on.

* * *

A few minutes later, Jack was studying the pictures with Gwen, Ianto had taken Owen's book and was making notes, and Owen had taken Ianto's 'locator' and had begun working on it. Toshiko looked up from her computer. 

"You might want to see this."

The team gathered round the monitor, on which was a paused picture of a house. Toshiko pressed play.

"Look, 15:53, house intact, Peter Paepre looking out the kitchen window as if he's expecting guests; his daughter's family presumably. Then the screen just goes blank. When it comes back on it's 17:53, two hours later exactly, and there's no Peter and no house. There's not even a curl of smoke left."

Ianto stirred uncomfortably. "Can't the system override the blank spot? You could when I… when I…" he trailed off sadly, and Gwen gave his shoulder a squeeze. No one had to ask to know that he was talking about the time not too long ago when he had tried to stop the CCTV cameras from showing footage of him trying to restore his girlfriend Lisa to her human body.

Toshiko broke the silence. "I've tried everything. It was easier… before… because that was CCTV for our own headquarters. This is something completely different altogether. The footage shown is controlled from somewhere else. If I could go there and find out where the camera's being controlled from, I might just be able to do it, though."

"Excellent," Jack said, smiling. "Good work, Tosh. I was thinking we might go there anyway… question the locals; see if they saw anything unusual, so even if you can't get the footage we might still be able to find out what happened."

Ianto had returned to his desk and was staring open mouthed at a page of the book.

"You found something?" Gwen asked. Owen looked up at Ianto, and then he too looked stunned.

"Of course!" he cried. "I'm so stupid!"

"Would either of you care to tell us what's going on?" Gwen asked impatiently.

"Well," Ianto began, "I think the answer to everything may lie in the plot of this book!"

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"Basically, as you can probably guess from the title, this book has chain mail in it. But it's not your average chain mail."

Gwen was about to interrupt again, but Jack shushed her.

"It's more like… hate mail," Ianto continued. "Hate chain mail. But a lot worse than it sounds."

Gwen sighed impatiently.

"All right, all right, I'm getting there. Thing is, this chain mail isn't in letter form or anything. Well, I guess it kind of is, if you think about it…"

"Get to the point!" Gwen exploded.

"Gwen, shush!" Jack chided. "Hurry up, Ianto."

"Ok, ok, sorry. The chain… the chain is, well, a chain of destruction. The first house is destroyed, and a note is left. It leaves an address, and warns that if that address isn't destroyed by a certain date, then the victim and their family would be next to be destroyed. Seems like an exact replica of what's happening here. And there's more. In the back, it says 'Shelley Carter has not had an easy life. About a year before _Chain Mail _was published, there was a terrible fire at her family home, followed shortly by the death of her mother.' Sounds like she was caught up in all this too…"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "I think it's time we payed Shelley Carter a visit, don't you think?" he said grimly. "I knew I recognised that name."

* * *

The group ran out to the car. Jack got in the driver's seat, Owen in the passenger seat, and Ianto and the two girls in the back. 

"Anyone else find anything?" Owen asked as they set off.

"Gwen and I where looking at the pictures," Jack replied. "We were looking at the pictures before the house was destroyed, to see if there was any indication of what was to come, and we were looking at the pictures after it had been destroyed to see if there was any indication of the next target."

"And what did you find?" Ianto asked.

"Nothing," Gwen replied discontentedly. "Nothing at all. If we had had more time I would have found pictures of the other houses to compare them, but time is of the essence if we're to stop any more buildings from being destroyed. Did you find anything, Owen?"

"Sort of," he said, smacking his lips. "I turned it on, at least." He held up the small contraption, and the group saw that the screen was lit up, showing the words 'no data'. "Aside from that, no, I haven't found anything. I have absolutely no idea what the device does. I just managed to turn it on. Where did you get it from, Jack?"

"From an old friend… he said there was another part to it, though, which he didn't have. Maybe that's why it isn't doing anything; it needs its other part to function."

"Maybe…" Ianto said, "But there could be numerous other reasons why it isn't showing any data. We might not be in the right place… you said yourself, Jack, you think it's some kind of locater."

They all looked at the device still in Owen's hand, imagining that this was a detective film and Ianto had said some sort of trigger word and the weird contraption would reveal all. But nothing happened. This was real life, not a film.

Gwen broke the silence. "Where are we, Jack?"

Without a word, he pointed gravely out the window. Everyone immediately recognised the rubble that stood perilously before them. It was the wreckage of the most recent house to be destroyed.

Gwen looked on with sad eyes. "It looks so different from the photos."

"That's because when you're here, you can smell the evil that went into this, and the heartbreak that came out of it." Jack replied, narrowing his eyes. He opened his car door, and the others did likewise. "Tosh, Ianto, go and see what you can do about that CCTV footage. Gwen, come with me and we'll go around the neighbourhood, see what we can find. Owen, you stay here. Look around the wreckage, and keep the locator out at all times, see if anything happens. We'll all meet back here in half an hour, no excuses. And don't go anywhere different without letting me know."

"How do we let you know if we can't come and find you?"

"Just stay where I've told you to, Owen."

The team departed their separate ways, leaving Owen sulking amongst the ruins of a house destroyed by something that Jack knew more about than he cared to admit.

* * *

"So what's the plan?" Ianto asked Toshiko as they walked at quite a pace in the opposite direction of the others. 

"I was looking on the way here, and I think I've located where the CCTV camera was." She stopped walking and Ianto looked up for the first time.

Before them stood a huge building, with vast metal gates and many guards standing with odd shapes in their pockets; you didn't have to be a genius to work out they were guns. On the building, in blue was a strange insignia. Ianto looked up at with wide eyes, his quick brain already trying to work out any hidden messages. He gasped.

"SJC," he whispered.

"What?" Tosh said impatiently. She was busy studying the security gates without arousing the suspicions of the guards on the other side.

"SJC," he said again.

"Is that _supposed _to make sense for me?"

"Look at the sign."

Tosh stopped mid task to do his bidding. "Yes?" she said. "What about it?"

"The whole thing is kind of an 's'. Then the top bit is a 'c'. And the bottom bit is a 'j'." he replied, tracing the figures in the air with his hands. "SJC."

Tosh gasped. "I see it," she said. "SJC." She looked up at Ianto. "Shelley J Carter?"

"Could well be," Ianto replied. "More things are falling into place if that's true. Jack will want to know about this." He turned around and made as if to find his boss, but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"I don't think we should split up. And besides, Jack told you to help me figure out the CCTV, and that's exactly what you're going to do. Come on; let's go find a way in."

She had obviously given up on the gates.

* * *

"Jack," Gwen said loudly, running to catch up. 

Jack stopped in his tracks and whirled round. "What?"

"Jack," Gwen said again, slowing to a halt. "You said before we left. You recognised her name." Jack started to turn around again but Gwen stopped him. "Don't think I've forgotten!" she said fiercely.

"Well please, do, for now, for me." Jack said, wrenching his arm out of Gwen's grip.

"What?" Gwen asked, chasing after him again.

"Please just do a little forgetting. For now. For my sake. I need time to think. Or I'll send you back to wait with Owen."

Gwen was starting to think that this might not be such a bad thing, but she kept her mouth closed. She would feel guilty going home to Rhys that night.

"Ok, so where are we going?" she said instead.

"To question the locals, you know that."

"Yes I do know that. But you seem to be heading in a very specific direction."

"Ah, touché."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Quit playing games, Jack."

He raised his shoulders in an innocent shrug. "Jack doesn't play games."

"Yes he does, all the time." She replied, laughing. "And he breaks most of the rules, too."

"Hey, what can I say, this game has no rules! Now come on, you're slowing me down."

* * *

Owen eyed the rubble warily, rubbing his arms. Although he was wearing his leather jacket, it wasn't enough to keep the cold away. More than that, the desolation of the place seemed to seep through his skin and into his bloodstream, and the longer he stood there the worse he felt. 

He didn't particularly want to examine the wreckage, but he didn't see that he had a choice. As he took a step closer the device whirred in his hand. He stopped dead and examined it but there was no visible difference. Maybe he'd just imagined it.

"What are you?" he asked it under his breath, as he took another step.

He received an unexpected answer as he tripped over a brick on the floor, and as he fell to the ground, felt his finger compress a button on the device. It shrieked.

It was like a woman's scream, high in pitch, and loud, oh so loud. He dropped the remote control as if he'd burnt himself, but the screaming continued. He pressed his hands over his ears but it made no difference; it was as if the noise was inside his head. He curled up on the dirty floor, willing the torture to end, all he felt was great pain, not concentrated on any part of his body but just inflicting him as a whole.

As suddenly as it had started, the noise stopped, and so did the pain, replaced by a throbbing headache. If Owen had looked up just moments before the device had muted itself, he would have seen that on the screen an address had replaced the words 'no data'. But as it was, he didn't see them, as they were only there for a few seconds anyway.

He stood up and threw the device a disgusted look, then, leaving it on the ground, went to see if anything survived the fire.

* * *

Tosh and Ianto had found a back door which was less carefully guarded, and, after flashing business cards at the guards claiming they were security inspectors, they found themselves inside the main building of SJC. 

"So what's the plan now we're in here?"

"To get to roof without arousing suspicion."

Ianto raised his eyebrows. "And then?"

"I have a special scanner in my bag. On the CCTV camera there's something quite similar to a bar code; I'll scan it, and it'll give me a special code to tap into the blank footage."

"That's quite a machine."

Tosh smiled. "Thank you, I made it."

Ianto stared at her with approving eyes, and then bowed low. "I am forever at your service, oh mighty mistress."

Tosh laughed. "That might come in handy, I'll remember that. Now _come on_, we need to get onto the roof!"

* * *

"So, where are we headed?" Gwen asked again impatiently. 

Jack sighed and pointed down the street. "You see that house at the end there with the flag in the window?"

"Yeah."

"The house to the right of it."

The house looked grubby, from the outside, at least. Gwen didn't much fancy going in there but she deeply trusted Jack so followed him without a word.

They had just reached the house with the flag in the window when they heard a commotion inside. A woman screamed, and Jack and Gwen heard voices from within.

"Get off me!" the woman screamed, accompanied with a loud crashing sound. "Get out of my house!"

Jack pulled out his stun gun and crashed through the front door without a moment's hesitation. Gwen followed warily.

They followed the voices into a small kitchen, just as two stocky men dressed in black were tying up and gagging a middle-aged woman, who Jack would have recognised if she wasn't in disguise.

Another thing that Jack failed to notice in his haste was that the two men were not at all surprised or worried to see him, but in moments their faces were blank and unreadable, Jack's gun still warm in his hand. He pulled the woman to her feet, and untied her.

"Thank you," she said, catching her breath, as she slouched into a kitchen chair. "I can't thank you enough!"

A few awkward minutes passed in silence, and then Jack stirred into action. He tied the two criminals together and turned back to the woman, who was still pale.

"I would call the police, they'll wake up soon," he said, nodding to the two unconscious men lying on the floor. "Are you ok now, or would you like us to stay longer? Because if you're all right we have some errands we can be doing."

The woman glanced at the clock on the wall and smiled sweetly. "Of course, sorry. Thank you again, I really couldn't have survived without you," she replied, showing them to the door.

"Think nothing of it," Jack muttered as the door was shut in his face.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside, a group of people dressed all in black huddled further up the road. After seeing Jack and Gwen enter the house, they quietly sprang into action. 

They entered the house next door to the one Jack and Gwen had entered.

After taking care of the house's inhabitants, the group quickly began working at the task in hand.

* * *

Toshiko and Ianto crept stealthily down the corridor and further into the building. Although they had outwitted the guards on the back door, it was only a matter of time before someone realised that they didn't normally work there. 

All the doors they passed were locked and opaque. They found one open door, but the room that it led to was completely empty. At last they found a lift, and took it up to the highest floor; the fourth. They went up in silence, and when they got off the place was suspiciously empty. They found the stairs to the roof in no time at all. They were beginning to get worried at the ease of the task; they had seen nothing and no one, apart from the guards at the entrances. Were they guarding an empty building?

Toshiko knelt on the side of the building, and leant over so she could reach the CCTV camera with the scanner she held in her right hand. Unexpectedly, Ianto crouched behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

As the scanner came into contact with the camera, a shock wave swept through Toshiko's body, and it had nothing to do with what Ianto's hands were doing. It was like an electric shock, but a million times worse; it took all her strength to hold on while the scan finished.

When it had, Ianto helped her to the middle of the rooftop where she could lie down safely. He gazed at her with concerned eyes.

"What happened?" he asked, shaking his head to clear it.

Toshiko stood up. "I have no idea," she replied shakily.

Tears slid down her cheeks, and she flung herself into Ianto's arms, weeping. She was so distraught that she almost didn't notice as Ianto's lips pressed gently into hers.

* * *

Jack turned and groaned. "Shit," he said. 

Gwen turned and gasped. The house next door to the one they had just left, the house that they had originally been heading for, was in ruins. It was obvious at a glance that the place was deserted.

"Shelley," Jack muttered, racing back into the house.

The woman and two criminals were no where to be seen.

"Shit," Jack said again. Gwen put a hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

"Perhaps we should go back now? Our half hour's up."

* * *

"So I was standing just here, and then I pressed this button, and… and… it was horrible!" Owen concluded. 

"Are you sure it was that button?" Gwen asked, when no one else said anything.

"Yes, look, none of the others do anything!" he replied, pressing each of them in turn.

"Might you have been… imagining it?" Toshiko asked tentatively. "After, it seems such a coincidence that it happened here…"

"Are you saying I've gone mad?!" Owen replied fiercely, brandishing the device as if it was a weapon. "Of course I didn't imagine it! What do you take me for?"

Jack was just reaching out to put a comforting hand on Owen's shoulder when he fell to the floor, shouting.

"It's happening again!" Owen screamed. "I must have pressed the button by accident! Aah, turn it off, turn it off!"

The others looked at each other blankly. They could not hear what Owen spoke of; all they saw was Owen writhing on the ground, the screen of the device he had dropped to the ground lit up…

"Look!" Gwen exclaimed, picking it up. "An address!"

Toshiko took it quickly from her and gasped. "Not just any address. The next address. The address that was destroyed after this one!"

Jack reached out his hand to take the device, his brow furrowed, but by the time it was in his possession the address had gone and Owen was standing once more, wiping the sweat and dirt off his forehead.

"I am never, ever, touching that thing again," he said firmly, breathing deeply.

* * *

"So it's agreed," Jack concluded, after in the discussion that followed Gwen and Jack retold everything that had happened to them, and Toshiko and Ianto had related the information they had gathered, omitting the fact that they had kissed. "Tosh, Ianto, you'll take the car and go back to the base, and we'll go on to the next address, following the trail until we get a new one, presuming that this _is _the trail of destruction that we're following. Any questions?" 

"What do we do once we've found the CCTV footage?" Toshiko asked.

"Relate your findings to us, it might be of use. And then stay at the base, we'll asked you if the addresses we find are the ones we need."

"And what do _we _do, when we've got the new address?" Gwen asked, deep in thought.

"We go there, and we evacuate it, and we guard it, and we stay there until something happens. Let's roll."

* * *

Toshiko and Ianto got into the car, smiling shyly at each other. They were both thinking the same thing… that when they got back, they would be alone… together… no one else around… just an empty base. How exciting. 

As Ianto started up the engine and checked his hair in the mirror, Toshiko searched desperately for something to say.

"So…" she began, "do you like… reading?"

"Yeah…" Ianto replied, "reading is… nice…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack, Gwen and Owen made their way on foot to the next address. As promised, Owen refused to go anywhere near the strange device that seemed to hurt him and no one else, so Jack was carrying it in an inside pocket of his coat. 

They arrived slightly out of breath, corollary of the fact that they had walked as fast as they could without running. The wreckage was similar to the previous one. Jack pulled out the locater, which, before he had left, Ianto had dubbed 'location generation'. As soon as he and Toshiko had driven out of sight, Owen had rechristened it as the 'plain darn locator', or PDL for short.

"Here goes," Jack said, a hard look in his eyes, as he calmly pressed the button on the PDL. Nothing happened. He peered at Owen curiously. "Am I pressing the right button?"

"Yes!" Owen said impatiently. Jack shook his head and pressed the button again.

"Maybe it was just a one off, before?" Gwen suggested.

"Maybe," Jack said, "but we have to make sure." He proffered the PDL to Owen, but was bluntly refused.

"No way."

"Can I try?" Gwen asked. Jack glanced at her in thought, and then assented.

"It's worth a try."

Gwen closed her eyes and pressed the button. She tried once more, and then looked up at the boys, who were studying her intently. They could tell without asking that it hadn't worked.

Owen sighed and held out his hand. "Fine." He said nervously. "Let's have a bash."

Gwen hesitantly relinquished her grasp on the PDL, and Owen steadied himself, breathing heavily. Almost as soon as he pressed the button, he let go of the whole contraption, and fell to the floor, writhing in pain. It was the same as before, but, if anything, worse. It was excruciating, but it didn't just effect him, it… it _was _him. He _was _the pain, he wasn't just feeling it.

Jack and Gwen gaped at each other, and then Gwen hurriedly checked the screen of the PDL while Jack helped Owen up.

Owen was out of breath, as if he'd just run a marathon. He seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness and was close to collapsing. Gwen spoke into her head set.

"Tosh?" from her headset came the muffled laughter of Ianto and Toshiko. At last Toshiko answered.

"Yes Gwen?"

"I want to check if this is the next address."

Gwen recited the address that was on the PDL screen, and after a brief pause Toshiko confirmed that yes, it was the next address.

"I wonder what those two were up to?" Gwen stated absently, a smile playing over her lips. "They seemed to be having a good time."

Jack and Owen stared at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed?" she asked, smirking. "They've been getting on a little… better than usually since they came down from the roof…"

Jack and Owen just gaped, stunned.

"Tosh?" Owen asked. He sounded hurt.

"Ianto?" Jack asked, mirroring Owen's expression.

Gwen raised her eyebrows with a knowing smile and turned, beginning to lead the way to the next address.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing amid the wreckage of the most recent house to be destroyed. 

"This is it," Jack said dryly, handing Owen the PDL.

"Yeah, this better work," Owen replied, scowling at the thing.

This time he was prepared, and sat down on a pile of bricks. He was sick of constantly falling over, and he was sure there would be bruises.

Feeling slightly nauseous, and apprehensively aware of the fact that this might not actually work, he closed his eyes and pressed his finger down on the button.

This time, the pain was immense. It seemed to erode his soul; it felt as if hundreds of fingernails scraped at his face, as if his heart might explode at any moment from the enormous sense of evil that it had to grapple with. His ears stung with the sound of constant screaming, and terrible images flashed across his eyelids that were squeezed so tightly shut that he thought he might go blind. His skin burned at the slightest movement, and he bit his tongue, hard. Almost immediately it swelled up to twice its normal size, choking him; but he no longer cared. And he accepted the darkness that swallowed him up with grim relief; the pain was gone, at last.

* * *

Meanwhile, Toshiko and Ianto had just got back to the base. They had had an intriguing conversation in the car about computers, and had both been intensely annoyed at Gwen's interruption. 

Toshiko marched proudly over her desk and brought out a slim metal box with wires protruding from the casing slightly.

"What's that?" Ianto asked curiously. Himself, he wasn't as fascinated with computers as Toshiko was, but now he was more involved with her, he thought he began to see what interested her so much about them.

"It's the second part of the scanner; I made it later on, more of a convenience than a necessity, really. You see this black strip? Well if I swipe the scanner over it, it will upload the data onto my computer. All it does is saves typing it out manually. But it takes a while…" Toshiko replied, cheekily. She swiped the scanner as she had explained, and the computer screen immediately filled with numbers and symbols Ianto had never seen before in his life. She turned to him, smiling shyly, and he embraced her warmly, kissing her passionately.

* * *

After realising that Owen wasn't going to wake up unless they did something, Jack bent down and examined his wounds. 

"So you got the address?" he confirmed for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Yes, Jack." Unwilling to get too close to Owen (his fit had scared her, and she didn't want to know how badly he was wounded), she retreated to a corner of the wreckages, stating, "I'll get Tosh to locate the address."

* * *

Toshiko was almost in the same state as Owen, although what she felt was nothing to do with pain, or hatred, or screams. This was to do with love. 

Just as Ianto's fingers perused her skin, they were shocked back to their present situation. Toshiko's phone shrieked out its high pitched, memorable ring tone that Toshiko's young niece had set on her phone and somehow managed to lock in place. For all the precautions Torchwood took, they always seem to be outwitted by younger generations.

Toshiko cringed and glanced at Ianto, half expecting him to leave her right then. But he just held onto her more tightly and said, "Don't answer it."

Drawn between answering her phone in case it was an emergency, and doing as Ianto wanted and staying in his arms, she stumbled, and as her arms flailed to keep her balance, she knocked the second part of the scanner onto the floor.

Sparks flew as the cable connecting it to the computer was ripped out unceremoniously.

"Shit!" Toshiko replied, struggling out of Ianto's arms. "This was only a prototype!"

She knelt by the remains of the machine she had worked so hard to make, but even Ianto could see that it was past repair.

"Great," Toshiko scowled. "Now we have to type it all in, number by number."

Her mobile lay forgotten under the table.

* * *

Gwen sighed, concerned. "Toshiko won't pick up. D'you think they're ok?" 

"I'm sure they're fine," Jack replied bitterly. "Probably having a quick shag out back."

Gwen smiled grimly. It wasn't her fault that Tosh and Ianto harboured feelings for each other. "I'll start tracking a route to the address; you just concentrate on getting Owen back with us."

"What do you think I've been doing?!" Jack snapped. Gwen just shook her head and continued her own work.

* * *

Back at the hub, Toshiko was moodily typing in the code figure by figure, as Ianto watched warily from over the other side of the room.

* * *

Owen stood up shakily, passing his dirty sleeve over his sweaty forehead. He was pale and trembling slightly, but he was ok and he was able to walk the route Gwen had set out for them without any assistance. 

"It would be _so _much easier if we still had the car!" Gwen complained.

Owen ignored her, glaring at Jack. "I mean it this time. I am never, ever, ever, touching that thing again. Never."

"But how-" Gwen began, before shutting up after seeing the icy glare aimed in her direction by more than one of her companions.

"Ok, Owen," Jack nodded, "we'll just have to find another way."

They were each so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they didn't noticed the young girl heading straight towards them until she had bumped into Jack. Her eyes, too, had been directed at the ground, but now she slowly dragged her gaze upwards, mumbling an apology.

She and Jack stared at each other for what seemed like an age. From Gwen and Owen's perspectives, they couldn't understand what was going on, but they had no idea of the thoughts whirling round the other two's heads.

The girl was small but she looked like she'd seen a lot of bad things for her age. She had brown hair and her skin was grubby and her clothes torn; she looked like she had been living rough for a while now.

Jack broke the silence, his voice cracking and eyes shining. "Elen?"

Elen nodded, her face drooping, blinking furiously. "…is that really you?"

"What the hell?!" Owen butted in rudely. But he might as well have not been there.

A tear trickled down Jack's cheek, startling all those present, including himself. "I… I think so…"

"But…" Elen stammered, "But you should be dead! You _are _dead! I saw it all happen. I was _there_."

Jack pinched himself, wincing. "I feel alive. And I don't think I'm dreaming either… unless we both died in the explosion and just haven't realised it yet… _you're _the one who died anyway! What happened? You're so young still, too…"

"I'm not the only who hasn't aged… d-dad. We're both alive… and we're both the same age we were when… when we died."

Gwen and Owen gasped simultaneously. Dad? Jack was this girl's dad? What was going on?

Jack and Elen embraced warmly, but then Jack pulled away suddenly as Owen cleared his throat.

"I hate to break you guys up, but… we still have to get to that house, you know."

Elen studied her father curiously. "Where are you going?"

"295 Hamley Street. We're on a trail of destruction." Jack winked, even though the situation was not to be taken lightly.

Elen gasped, pulling something out of her bag. Then it was the team's turn to gasp. Elen now held an object in her hand that looked exactly the same as the locater that had given Owen his spasms. Jack pulled it out, exclaiming. "It's the other half!"

Elen nodded. "That would make sense. I always thought there was more to it. It looks like I've been following the same trail as you… I've just been to Hamley Street, and we're too late, the house has already been destroyed. I was just on my way to the next address…"

"Which is where?"

"42 Joyl Street. Somewhere vaguely in that direction." She pointed the way she had been walking.

"Gwen, track us a route for 42 Joyl Street."

Still perplexed at all the recent events, Gwen did as she was told.

"Elen… there's so much we need to say. But right now just isn't the right time. We'll talk later, I promise, when all the danger is over."

"But what if… what if you die? I mean, properly?"

"That won't happen, trust me."

"Er, Jack?" Owen began timidly. "Not that I don't trust you completely or anything, but… are you sure this is wise? Don't you think we should go and check out the last address, just in case? I mean, you want to… you want to trust the word of a…" he gesticulated madly at Elen.

Jack turned a cold glare on Owen, vehemently wishing he had left him out cold amid the rubble. "I have complete faith in my daughter, Owen. And you would do well do remember that she is a lot older than she looks and has gained a lot more experience than you ever could."

Owen swallowed and smiled weakly. "Sorry, er… Elen."

* * *

Something in the atmosphere had shifted, and a greater sense of urgency descended on the team. 

"I said left, not right!" Gwen screeched as they took yet another wrong turning.

"Oh keep your fucking hairnet on; it's not my bloody fault!" Owen shouted back.

"Oh please, don't pretend you're so hurt, we all know you're just putting it on!"

"Don't you dare think you can boss me around, you don't know squat about me!"

"SHUT UP!" Jack roared. Their constant bickering was driving him nuts. "Don't you think we have more important things to worry about? Gwen, try and calm down a bit. Owen, try and listen more carefully to Gwen's instructions. She's the one who knows where we're going."

Owen scowled at him and swallowed down the retort he had been about to make.

The group walked on in silence, Jack and Elen occasionally exchanging small glances and unbelieving smiles. Jack caught Elen staring at him more than once. He himself could barely take his eyes off her. _This can't be happening. It can't be real. It can't be true. _Thoughts such as these kept swirling around his head, and he had to look at his daughter again to check that she was really there.

After ten excruciating minutes, Gwen flung out her arm and ordered the group to a halt. She pointed to the end of the street, where a house was slightly separated from the others. "That's the one."

"Elen, perhaps you better-"

"I'm not going to be left behind dad. Not again."

Jack nodded and turned his head. "Owen, maybe you better stay behind? I mean, I'm sure you're not feeling too great after-"

"Oh, no. You're not leaving _me _behind."

The group turned to Gwen. "Now that really isn't fair!" she cried.

Jack sighed. "Ok. We'll all go. But just… just…"

Apparently he was unable to finish his sentence.

* * *

"How are you doing?" Ianto asked tentatively. 

"A lot better before you came along," Toshiko retorted angrily. She was still fuming about her machine being wrecked, and firmly believed it was all Ianto's fault. As she punched numbers, letters and symbols into her keyboard one by one (this was the painfully slow manual method she had talked of earlier), she secretly vowed that nothing would ever make her forgive Ianto.

"I'm so, so, sorry," Ianto replied, for the zillionth time. "And you've typed in so much already, surely you're almost-"

* * *

"There!" Elen whispered, pointing to an upper window of the house they were studying. "I'm sure I keep seeing someone moving up there!" 

"Well," Jack replied, straightening up from the hunched over position he had previously been in, "there's no time like the present. Come on, we're going in!"

He checked his watch, which read 15:53, then marched smartly up to the door and rapped on it with his knuckles. The others stood quickly behind him.

A small, old looking woman, who appeared to have an eyesight problem, answered the door in an instant. She was wearing a skimpy black dress with white frills, and the sight of her made Jack shudder. "Come in, do come in," she said, without even asking who they were.

They followed her into the house, a decision which they immediately regretted. Four large men wearing identical leather body suits and black motorcycle helmets stepped out from the shadows and seized Jack, Elen, Gwen and Owen, holding their arms so tightly behind there backs that they couldn't struggle at all.

The old woman swept off her wig and glasses and Jack narrowed his eyes at her.

"Good afternoon, Mr Harkness, how very nice to see you again," she trilled.

"Miss Carter. I should have known."

"Yes, you really should have. I expected a lot better from you. And this must be Owen Harper?" she chuckled as Owen gasped. "Yes, I know all of you. And the newest recruitment of the team, Gwen Cooper." She gave another horrible smile and then turned to Elen, taken aback. "Surely not Toshiko? My, I thought you were taller than that!"

"She's not with us. She's never worked for us, Shelley. I suggest that you let her go free and get one life off your conscience."

At a stern look from her father, Elen stayed silent. Shelley J Carter gave a horrible cackle and then raised the index finger of her right hand. Immediately her cronies began to drag the helpless four down a flight of stair and into a dingy, cold room. There she stripped them of all their outer clothing and their weapons. Finally she reached across and pulled the first half of the locater from Elen's hands.

"You won't need this any more," she crooned with a suppressed smile. She took the one Jack held as well. "I simply cannot believe this little invention of mine worked so well! It lured you right into my trap." She gave another unspoken command and her four helpers tied their captives together around a post in the middle of the room. They tied them so tightly that immediately they began to feel the blood draining away from their arms and the lower halves of their body. "This is the end of Torchwood."

Shelley began to walk out of the room with her companions, but at the door she turned. "I believe I owe you an explanation. It was I who caused the diversion so my colleagues could destroy the house that held all the information you needed, and its occupants. It was I who planted these 'locators' on you so I could track your every move. I meant for them both to get to you, Jack, and it was a miscalculation on my part that the other half fell into the possession of this… little girl. But no matter. Mistakes can be rectified. I'll enjoy _watching you burn_." She concluded, waving a box of matches.

Then she really did leave.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the headquarters, Toshiko was finally typing in the last few characters, still adamantly ignoring Ianto. 

She momentarily forgot her resolution, however, when she straightened up and smiled broadly after keying in the last three letters: SJC. "Done!"

"Excellent!" Ianto beamed, glad that she seemed to be in a better mood. "Let's see what we've got."

"You mean let's see what _I've _got. You didn't exactly help matters."

Ianto sighed. His relief had been short lived.

Toshiko consented, however, to sit by him as they waited for the footage to load up. "What time are we looking at again?"

"15:53," Ianto replied promptly, and Toshiko found the spot.

There was the house, completely still, and then… together they watched open mouthed as Jack marched up to the door and knocked on it. Gwen, Owen, and a young girl assembled behind him. A maid answered the door and ushered the four inside.

Toshiko and Ianto waited a painstakingly long time for something more to happen, both with their hearts in their mouths and their eyes wide in terror. They could not speak. They could not say a word.

Finally the old maid exited the house through the front door, although now she seemed to have different coloured hair and she was accompanied by four large motorcyclists. The last one out the door set a damp sheet wrapped around a large stick of wood on fire and tossed it through the door before closing and locking it. Then the five companions ran out of the range of the camera and the screen returned to its blank state.

After a few steadying gasps of breath, Toshiko dragged her eyes up to meet Ianto's gaze.

"They're in trouble," was all he said.

"We need to save them," Toshiko added.

* * *

They raced out to the car and took an infuriating length of time to get it started. Finally they tore out of the headquarters, Toshiko having just located the address that they needed to go to. Sweat trickled down Ianto's forehead and he swore loudly as they were engulfed in traffic. Toshiko leaned her head back against her seat and closed her eyes, breathing heavily. No matter how many times she had faced danger, she could never and would never get used to that feeling of rising panic that overwhelmed her every time.

* * *

After many lengthy, exasperating and terrifying minutes, Ianto screeched the car to a halt just in front of the burning building. They had no trouble identify where it was their friends were trapped. 

Coughing from the smoke, and crying from the heat that irritated their eyes, they ploughed their way through the wreckage.

They found the room at the back of the house. Apart from the door, which was now a pile of ash on the ground, the entire room was made from metal and apparently fire proof. But even though the room itself was not burning, it was filled with smoke, and the metal had heated up to an excruciating temperature. A pile of bodies lay slumped in the middle of the room, tied to a metal pole. They were barely conscious.

Ianto severed their bonds, and then the two worked together to get the group out of the house. Ianto carried Elen and Toshiko supported Gwen. Owen and Jack stumbled along behind them.

Once out in the fresh air, they collapsed to the ground. All four had immense breathing difficulties and severe burns and blistering where they had been touching the metal pole.

Ianto looked at his watch. 17:50.

* * *

The next day Ianto and Toshiko returned to the hospital where their friends were being treated. Earlier that morning they had been in the process of being enlightened about Elen when a police officer entered the room and told them that Shelley J Carter was at the police station. Ianto and Toshiko went with him so they could question her. 

Now they had returned and were relating their findings to the rest of the group.

"Not much to tell, really," Toshiko sighed, sitting on the end of Owen's bed.

"We asked her all sorts of questions, and all she would say was 'I fight fire with fire'. That's all she would say, _nothing _else!"

"Eventually we just had to give up and let the police carry on. They said they'd let us know if they managed to coax her into making sense."

"Well good luck to them! I won't be expecting a call any time soon!" Jack replied, in a strangely good mood.

Things weren't perfect, but they weren't too bad either.

* * *

_Next time in Torchwood: The First Step…_ _

* * *

_

"_Who _is _she?"_

_

* * *

_

"_OWEN!"_

_

* * *

_

_They returned to find the tent empty._

_

* * *

_

"_Oh… dear…"_

_

* * *

_

"_Please… whatever you are… you can't do this…"_


	2. Lorelei

_Author notes: wow these chapters take a while! Hopefully I'll be able to move a bit quicker now though! Firstly I must thank my reviewers of the first chapter._

_Torchwoodfan1, IndeMaat, Fangirl104, izzfrogger, emmo, xebedy, LialaSword and Hannah Taylor thank you very much! Although I have replied individually to these wonderful people I thought I'd explain a few things here as well for anyone else who may have been confused._

_Q: What is happening to Owen, and why does it only affect him and not the others?_

_A: Well, he's basically having these weird pain spasms. As for why, and why just him, this point will be developed in future chapters!_

_Q: Are you going to make him do that again, are they ever going to help him and make it stop?_

_A: We'll see… as I said, the point will definitely be developed, but how you'll have to wait and find out!_

_Q: Why are Jack and Elen's meeting so coincidental?_

_A: There's more to come about Elen's past to come, if that helps. They knew they were on the same trail a) because they both had locaters (and ok I know this is coincidental too, but at the moment I don't have an explanation for that) b) Jack was going to the address Elen had just been to, on a 'trail of destruction' and c) Jack and Elen have a unique bond, being father and daughter, but also from being two of few that have lived so long!_

_Q: Why did Ianto suddenly grab Toshiko by the waist?_

_A: Well, Tosh was kinda hanging off a building four floors high, only holding on with one hand. And once the convulsions kicked in, she wouldn't have stayed on that roof if it weren't for Ianto._

_Q: How did Ianto and Toshiko come to be looking at that footage at the end? Did Toshiko gain access to all CCTV cameras?_

_A: They didn't gain access to all cameras, just the one. If you'll remember, the building that the CCTV camera was on was completely deserted, and was also inscribed with an insignia which appeared to represent SJC. This will be important. All will be revealed (I hope)._

_Q: How did the police make the arrest so quickly? Wasn't SJC a criminal mastermind?_

_A: Try and think about why SJC may have let this happen… let's think diversions. All I'm sayin'._

_And one last point… bear in mind that it is not in SJC's nature to be 100 truthful!_

_Oh and by the way, you'll probably HATE me for this chapter, cos I thought I'd leave you with a nice cliffy :)_

_Now enough of that, let's move on!_

**Disclaimer: Characters etc belong to BBC, Russell T Davies, and so on. Plot lines belong to ME and if you steal them then I may well revert to cannibalism. I warn you, I have sharp teeth. If this is even half as good as the work of Russell, I will be well pleased. Oh and this chapter is inspired by an old legend.**

_**This chapter is dedicated to Becky, who read the first chapter as I wrote it, and who I kept waiting for along time before I finished it.**_

* * *

Elen and Jack were sitting in his office, quietly talking things over.

"So how did you get your half of the locater then?" Jack asked his daughter curiously.

Elen sighed. "It appeared in my… in the place where I was staying. Lying on top of my pillow. I carried it around with me everywhere, looking for somewhere to sell it, but then I passed this one house and… it was so horrible."

"Did you hear some sort of screaming, and feel a sort of burning pain, like Owen?"

"I heard the screaming… but I didn't feel anything. The screaming was enough, though. It was the worst sound I've ever heard!"

Jack paused as tears threatened to overwhelm his daughter, but she fought them back and he felt compelled to continue. "I got one half of the locater back," he said quietly, pulling it from under his desk.

It seemed to Elen that the conversation had been building to this moment all along.

"How did you get it?"

"I managed to persuade the police to give it to me, but they wouldn't give me the whole thing. They wanted to keep the other half for testing. I can't begin to imagine what they could do with it."

"But you know, don't you dad?"

"Know what?"

"You know what to do with it." This last sentence was a statement, not a question.

Jack smiled at his daughter's perceptiveness. "We've been concentrating so long on the outside. But I want to get a look on the inside. I want to find out what it was that you and Owen reacted to, that Gwen and I didn't. And I want to know what's so special about it… Shelley made it for a purpose, after all."

Elen gasped. "Dad! Shelley said that she had them bugged or something, so she could track us!"

"I know. Notice that the aerial's gone now? It was a transmitter of some sort. I broke it off."

The two set about opening the locater. At last a segment at the back fell away and clattered onto the table. A small coin fell out after it and landed on its edge, promptly rolling off the table. Elen bent over to pick it up.

"It's a Euro!"

Jack took it from her and examined it. "A German Euro." He stood up. "Let's take it to Tosh, she can examine it."

Elen began to follow him out of the room when a hissing noise disturbed her. She whirled around, and found that a hole had been burned through the table where the locater had been. On the floor underneath the hole, a twisted lump of plastic was all that remained of the locater.

* * *

Chapter Two- Lorelei

Later on, the team (minus Gwen) were still puzzling over what had happened to the locater. Toshiko stretched after her lengthy study of the remaining lump, and yawned. "I really can't think of any other explanation. There must have been some kind of chemical inside the locater that becomes corrosive when it reacts to oxygen. But I don't understand why the coin wasn't affected; surely it would have been contaminated at least a little? But other than that, I really can't think of any other reason for it just to melt like that. And to go through your desk too! Incredible. That was some chemical."

Jack scowled at the reminder of his spoilt desk, and rolled his eyes when it was clear to him that Toshiko was in _awe_. "Yeah, well," he said, "I just have to be thankful that I wasn't holding the damn thing when it showed us its little surprise."

Toshiko smiled sympathetically. "You probably wouldn't have a hand."

At this point, Gwen rushed into the room clutching her bag.

"What have you got for us?"

She had just returned from a trip gathering data from the police. "Joshua Lahn, 32, Peter O'Neil, 26 and Felix Modol, 17. All disappeared at almost exactly the same spot, by a river. All young men. The police went to investigate the area; the troupe consisted of several young men and one young woman. The woman was found unconscious at the site, and had no memory of the previous events. None of the men returned. A full body hunt ensued, but, just as with Joshua, Peter and Felix, nothing could be found. Not a scrap of evidence." She slapped a teeming file onto the desk in front of Jack and sat down with a sigh. "I spoke to Felix's mother. He was only 17. The poor woman was hysterical. Didn't know what to do with her life anymore. I could only get a few sentences out of her, she could barely speak from crying." Gwen herself had tears in her eyes. She hated, and always had done, this part of the job.

The team sat in a grim silence, each thinking about the enormity of what had happened.

"So there was no evidence at all?" Owen asked. "No footprints? Scraps of material? How far away from civilisation are we talking?"

"No footprints. No scraps of material. They found the police cars crushed in the river though. In pieces." Gwen's voice wavered. "There aren't any buildings for miles around the area. It's completely deserted. It's impossible to tell which days the men went missing. And we don't know that it was exactly at that spot, but it was somewhere along the river, and that was where the woman and the cars were found."

The Hub once more lapsed in the silence. Toshiko was thinking of her cousin in university. He was 20. Gwen was thinking of Mrs Modol. Elen was thinking of a boy with whom she'd had a relationship in the past. He would be in his late twenties now.

"Ok guys," Jack said, breaking the silence. "We're going to have to go and visit the scene of the crime. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Tell your partners you'll be gone for a few days." He winked at Gwen, knowing full well that she was the only one with a partner to tell. "You can go early; there's not much more we can do tonight."

As the rest of the team went off to collect their things together, Elen turned to her dad, frowning. "But Owen and Ianto… they're quite young aren't they? Wouldn't it be better if they stayed behind?"

Jack shook his head sadly. "We need bait."

* * *

"I'm home!" Gwen called, closing the front door behind her. She had taken a detour on the way home and walked around for a bit, clearing her head. She was still upset about the events earlier that day. She walked through into the lounge to find Rhys sitting silently on the sofa, his eyes fixed on her. "You waited up!"

Rhys grunted. "Gwen."

"Rhys? Are you ok?"

He took a deep breath. "I think we ought to spend more time with each other, Gwen. I barely ever see you anymore. It's like you've disappeared completely. To even get to see you I have to stay up late or get up early, and then there's only time for a quick hello and then you're off to work. I'm glad you got your promotion and all, but it's really taking over your life. Couldn't you see if you can take a few days of work? Or just a few hours? I need to know you're still here."

Gwen was growing impatient. "Maybe next week? We've got a really big case at the moment."

"You always have a big case. You always say, 'Let's just finish this case, then we'll have all the time in the world.' And then you come home and say 'Guess what? Another big case! Oh dear, I won't be around much, Rhys.' Well, I'm sick of it! They were managing all right before you were promoted, surely they can manage without you for a few days!"

Gwen bit her lip. "Thing is… with this case… I think I'm going to have to stay away for a couple of days…"

The door slammed shut at around the beginning of her sentence.

* * *

Owen whistled as he made his way to the Hub. He was arriving early so he could read through the file Gwen had brought them yesterday.

His whistling stopped as he almost walked into a puffy eyed Gwen. Her face was red and tears brimmed in her eyes. She squealed and ran away to the couch when she saw Owen.

"Oh… dear…" he said under his breath. He put down his bag over by his desk and went to sit next to her. She tried to turn away but he pulled her round so she was facing him. "What happened? Is it Rhys?"

Gwen nodded. Owen found he was incapable of expressing consolations in words, and so reverted to one of the only things he was good at. He leaned over and starting kissing Gwen.

* * *

Elen woke up and stretched. She had 'moved out' from her previous dwelling and into the Torchwood headquarters, where her dad also slept. He wasn't awake yet so she got up and made her way to the coffee machine, rubbing her eyes. Before she got halfway, however, she had to pass the couch. And seeing two of your colleagues, one of the already taken, half naked on the sofa together is not the best thing to wake up to.

"Whoa. Get a room, guys."

Owen and Gwen sprang apart at the sound of Elen's voice; Owen fell off the couch. Gwen began to cry again.

"It was a mistake." She shot Owen a filthy look. "All a _big _mistake. _Please _don't tell anyone, Elen!"

And Elen, knowing a lot more about comforting people than Owen ever would, shoved Owen away and let Gwen cry on her shoulder.

* * *

By the time Jack was up and Ianto and Toshiko had arrived, Gwen had stopped crying, Owen had assumed a look of undisguised contempt, and Elen had had her coffee. The group assembled outside and then piled into the car. Jack drove, with Ianto in the passenger seat, Owen and Toshiko sat in the middle, and Elen and Gwen sat at the back.

The drive was long and took them far away from civilisation, and by the time they arrived they were all feeling a little miserable.

Jack parked the car down the road from where they were going, and they got their things out the boot and began to walk down to the spot. Normally on a case like this, the place would be cordoned off with police tape and guarded, but they had only met resistance way down the road, where several police officers had set up a barrier, all of them women. Once learning who they were, they were let through, but the team could tell from the expressions on the officers' faces that they were scared of going any nearer and marvelled that anyone would.

Jack suddenly stopped at a stretch that looked exactly the same as the rest of it, and put down his bags. "Welcome to your hotel for the next few nights, your rooms are located on the third floor, we ask you not to walk off the side of the building or you may meet your very own untimely death."

The others laughed at his jests, but looked worried. "What do you mean, third floor?"

"Come and have a look."

The others put there bags down and followed Jack, who stopped abruptly and gestured for them to get down on their knees. They did so, and leant over, expecting to see a small drop of a metre or two. What they saw instead explained the whole third floor thing.

Water gushed over sharp rocks, the equivalent to three floors below, and the team could see, also, what Jack meant by his reference to death.

"Ok guys, enough ogling, everyone come back and help set up the tents, we want them up before it's dark, and as far as I know, none of you are experienced campers," Jack called, and the group retreated.

"Oh, I've put up a tent or two in my time," Elen said, with a shy smile, as the team got to work on the tents.

* * *

A surprising long time later, as the sun set over the river, the exhausted team crawled into their three newly erected tents; one for the girls, one for the boys, and one bigger one across the entrances of the two where they could sit and eat or chat.

"I'm _freezing_," Gwen complained, rubbing her hands together.

"I'll go fetch some fire wood," Owen offered, and began to leave the tent when Jack stopped him.

"Wait- are you stupid?" he said, glaring at Owen _and _Gwen. "What was I said as we were setting up the tents? _No one _is to leave this tent on their own! It's too dangerous!"

"I'll go," Ianto offered, but Jack shot him down.

"You really think that's a wise idea? I don't want to lose you both on the same night." Silence followed his words, which he had immediately regretted. His companions stared at him in horror, until he muttered an apology. "Gwen, you go with him."

She looked scared and got up shakily, but didn't complain as she left the tent with Owen.

The team sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, until they heard Gwen's panic stricken shout.

"OWEN!"

Jack shot up and out of the tent so fast he was like a blur, and the others warily followed him.

They found Gwen a little way off, kneeling at the edge of the cliff, and staring over the side, shaking like mad.

"What happened?" Jack asked, a little sterner than was perhaps necessary.

"We were over here finding wood, when he started being odd and saying that I looked really pretty in the moonlight-"

"That doesn't sound odd, that sounds like Owen," Elen muttered, but no one heard her.

"- and that my blonde hair looked all shimmery. I asked him what he was going on about, but it was like he couldn't hear what I was saying; he just asked me what I was humming. He said he like the tune. And then… then there was a flash of light and he fell sideways, t-that way…" she trailed off, pointing off the side of the cliff and into the river. "I looked straight away but it was like he had disappeared, he's not there at all and the river can't have taken him that far by the time I looked over the side, can it?"

The team had been staring at her opened mouthed while she recounted her tale, and now they too looked over the side, in shock. Jack bent down and picked up the bundle of fire wood that lay abandoned on the ground. "Come on, let's get back to the tents."

"But what about Owen?!" Gwen screamed.

Jack laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Trust me. I don't think he's dead, and I don't think he's hurt, and I think he's still near us. But he's still in danger, and we will be too if we go looking in the dark for things that we don't understand."

At these words, the group relented and trudged back to the tent.

* * *

The next morning, the team rose as soon as the sun did. No one had slept much the night before in worry, and they were keen to solve this mystery.

They spent the entire morning sweeping over the area looking for clues, but there was absolutely nothing. Jack even went as far as to hang over the edge of the cliff at the spot Owen had disappeared to see if anything more could be seen. It couldn't, and it took all his and Ianto's strength to haul him back up again. Jack spent the next few hours in the tent trying to think of anything, _anything_, which might get them somewhere.

In the early hours of the afternoon, Ianto came to him in the tent. He knelt down next to him and took a while to silently contemplate his position before speaking.

"Sir?"

Jack sat up expectantly.

"I had an idea, sir."

"Yes?" Jack replied. Both men spoke slowly, and Jack thought he knew what was coming.

"I wanted… I wanted to offer myself as bait, sir." Now he had started talking he could not stop. "I think I fall into the young male category, and whatever this _thing _is, I think it might want me, too. I keep seeing silver things out of the corner of my eye, and hearing a weird humming, like Gwen said Owen did. We can put cameras and other detection devices in the tent, and I'll sit in it, and then the rest of you should go up the road, to where the car is. Then… when this thing comes for me, you can come back and see the data, and then you'll know what it is, an-and then you can come and fetch me and Owen," he ended abruptly.

Jack nodded. "Thank you, Ianto. I had thought of this too, although not of the detection devices, but I didn't want to suggest it and put pressure on you. But as long as you're happy to do this then I assure you we will do everything we can to protect you."

Ianto nodded, speechless with fright. He knew he was ready, though.

Jack stepped out of the tent and clapped his hands, calling the others over. They looked at him curiously but excitedly, expecting a break through. They were silent as he explained what Ianto planned to do, and they all looked shocked.

"Ianto, you can't do this!" Toshiko cried. She still believed that he was the one who had broken her prototype, but all bad feelings put aside, she didn't want him to risk his life like that!

"I have to!" he replied, his voice cracking.

Jack nodded. "It's the only way."

* * *

They worked quickly to install cameras and motion sensors in the tent, and trackers and microphones on Ianto.

Once they were satisfied there was nothing more they could do to help, each member of the team went and patted Ianto on the shoulder, muttering words of encouragement. Jack was last. "Remember, don't leave the tent to find it, let _it _come to _you_, otherwise this will all be for nothing."

As they walked away to the safety of the car, all the while looking back over their shoulders to Ianto who smiled tensely and waved, they felt like traitors.

Toshiko set her equipment up in the car so they could see what was happening in the tent, and talk to Ianto, who'd just entered it.

* * *

They waited all evening, with nothing happening. Although he had no physical presence there to reassure him, Ianto appreciated the constant communication with the rest of the team in the car immensely.

He looked through the flaps of the tent and then sat back down again. "The sun's going down now," he said quietly into his microphone.

He heard a muffled reply from Jack. "It has begun."

* * *

The tension in the car was immense and unbearable. "I'm just going to go out for a bit of fresh air to clear my-"

"You are _not_!" Jack shouted at Gwen, forcing her back into her seat. "We've all got to stick together."

"Yeah, just like we're sticking with Ianto," she muttered darkly, but Jack ignored her. They had been having this conversation for the last hour, at least, and Jack was sick of explaining everything to someone who refused to believe that what they were doing was right.

They looked up and held their breath as there was movement on the cameras. Ianto had shifted his position and was humming a little. He hadn't spoken the team for a while, but just because he was emotionally exhausted and didn't want to show them how scared he was.

Gwen gasped. "Ianto," she said quietly into the microphone. "Stop humming, you're scaring me!"

They watched as Ianto turned his face to the camera. They could all hear the fear in his voice as he whispered back, "I'm not humming!"

Gwen closed her eyes briefly, and then turned to Jack. "Could this be connected to the fact that Owen thought that I was humming when I wasn't?"

Jack nodded gravely. "Ianto, watch yourself, we think this is the first sign that-"

He broke off as they realised for the first time that Ianto was no longer sitting in front of the camera.

Toshiko turned the camera so that it was facing the tent entrance, and they saw that it was flapping wildly in the wind. It had been opened.

"Ianto, no!" Jack cried, but he received no reply.

Elen leaned over to the controls, having just had a brainwave. She turned the camera back to face the tent wall.

"What are you doing, are you nuts?!" Toshiko asked, trying to yank to controls from her.

"No!" Elen replied angrily, regaining control. "There's light inside the tent, and it's pitch black outside. With a bit of luck we might be able to see a shadow, at least!"

Toshiko sat back, grumpy that she hadn't thought of this, while Elen continued turning the camera.

Once more the team held their breath, and for a moment nothing happened. Then they saw what could only be Ianto's shadow cross the outside of the tent. They heard that he was speaking, but by now the interference was so great that they could not distinguish words.

Another shadow came to stand next to Ianto, although it looked only vaguely humanoid. It sounded like it was speaking, too, but again they couldn't make out any words. Gwen squeaked and shrank back as the thing reached out a hand to Ianto, who took it in his own. Then they both moved away from the tent, and the team could see no more.

* * *

Jack made them stay in the car until the morning until he declared it safe to get out. No one slept at all, but in that time Toshiko checked the tracking device, which thankfully had stayed with Ianto.

Everyone but Jack was astonished to see that Ianto had finished his journey _inside _the cliff face. "What does it mean?" Elen had asked, but Jack merely shook his head and said that he would explain after they had examined the tent.

As they had assumed, they returned to find the tent empty, although there was no sign of any struggle in or around it. No footprints, either, although Jack caught each member of his team, on separate occasions, leaning over the side of the cliff to try and see where Ianto had been taken.

At last, Jack called them over. "I know what we've been doing wrong."

* * *

Ianto woke to find Owen shaking him roughly. "Owen!" he exclaimed loudly, but Owen shook his head and pressed his fingers to his lips.

Their hands were chained to the wall of a dusty, dirty, rocky room, and there was a loud rushing noise, which Owen later explained was the river beneath them.

"Where _are _we?" Ianto asked incredulously, speaking as loudly as he dared.

"I think we're _in_ the rock face, but I'm not sure. How did she get you?"

"Who is she? I offered myself as bait to help find you. I just remember being in the tent on my own, with the others in the car down the road, and the next thing I know is that I'm down here!"

Owen seemed surprised but gratified towards Ianto for his risk. "She brought you in a while ago; I've been trying to wake you up. I don't know who she is. I don't know _what _she is. But I do know that before she brought you, there were a lot more people in here than just me, and I don't where she's taken them."

They stopped talking as a shadow crossed the room, and a figure entered.

* * *

"We've been approaching the situation from the wrong direction," Jack stated calmly. "We shouldn't be up here; we need to be down there, in the river."

Gwen gave an involuntary shudder and peered over the side of the cliff. "Have you _seen _how dangerous it looks?!"

Jack glared at her. "I don't care how dangerous it is, the Lorelei have got Owen and Ianto and we need to save them before it's too late!"

"The… Lorelei?" Elen asked curiously.

"The Lorelei," Jack confirmed. "I thought they'd all died out, but there's obviously at least one still in existence. They're sort of female sea creatures, who used to be human. They lure young men into their lair in the rock, and use their energy to keep themselves alive. If they get enough energy then they can reproduce, which would explain why if there's only one of them left, so many men are disappearing. We may be in luck yet; none of the men who went missing are necessarily dead, but if we don't help them soon then they will be." Seeing the girls' stricken looks, he added reassuringly, "Don't worry, Owen and Ianto are strong, they have a lot in them yet."

* * *

"Don't let her kiss you!" Owen whispered frantically to Ianto.

"_What_?"

"The other guys… she just comes over and kisses them, and they go all loopy, and it's like she has a light inside her and it's shining brighter. She's getting bigger all the time, as well, like she's about to burst!"

"Has she kissed you?"

"Once, but not for very long. I was exhausted afterwards, though."

By this time, the creature had crossed the room and now crouched in front of the two men. Ianto being Ianto, he decided to try and reason with her.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you want, b-but you have to let us go!"

The creature turned her head to him and blinked. "I am Lorelei."

Perspiration began to form on Ianto's forehead, while Owen stared stubbornly at the wall.

"H-hi, Lorelei, look, what are you going to do with us? And what have you d-done with everyone else?"

Lorelei blinked at him again, smiling as if she felt sorry for him. "It will not be long. I need not have you both. One of you will be enough."

"One of us f-for what?" he asked timidly.

"Aah, you volunteer yourself? Very well," she replied calmly, leaning in as if to kiss Ianto.

Before he could protest, Owen yelled out. "NO!" Lorelei turned her head sharply to look at him. "Ianto risked his life for me, I can't let him lose it now!" he looked briefly at his companion and then blushed and looked away. "You can have me."

Lorelei nodded, and leaned in once more, this time to kiss Owen. As their lips connected, Ianto felt paralysed by fear, but he felt he owed Owen one last shot. "Please… whatever you are… you can't do this…" he weakly trailed off, closing his eyes against the glare of light becoming bright and brighter every minute.

When he opened his eyes again, Owen was lying beside him, eyes open but unseeing, pulse extremely faint, and Lorelei was crouched in the middle of the room.

"You _monster_!" Ianto shouted, making as if to beat her, when he was unexpectedly yanked back by the chains that he had forgotten about. His anger turned to confusion, however, when he saw that Lorelei herself looked in pain.

All the while, her light was glowing brighter and she was growing bigger, when all of a sudden a part of her broke away and both parts fell to the floor. The room was dim once again, and Lorelei was much slimmer, but now she clutched in her arms what could only be described as a baby Lorelei, although it looked extremely inhuman at its early age.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack and the girls had gathered up all their equipment and loaded it into the car. At the police check point, the same officers as before remained, and they noted the absence of two members of the team with grim expressions.

Next came the painstaking search for a sailor who would agree to take them down the river. They found a group of sailors huddled in the corner of a pub, but they had all been too afraid to sail that way since the disappearances started.

Jack was just about to give up and leave the pub when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, to face and old looking man, who was wearing a grim smile on his face.

"I'll take ya," he said slowly.

Jack looked at his face searchingly. "Aren't you scared?"

"As hell! But… well, you seem to know what you're doing, and I'd like to see what's going on down there…"

Normally this would not have cut it with Jack, but right now he didn't care about motifs; he sorely needed help. "Well," he shrugged, "let's get this done."

* * *

They were sitting impatiently in the boat. It was taking a lot longer than predicted, since the weather was rough, and the waters choppy. Besides, it was hard to make out landmarks through the rain.

Suddenly, Jack lurched to his feet, immediately regretting it when he almost capsized them. "It's there!" he shouted above the wind, pointing up the rock face. "Just a little bit further!"

Four pairs of eyes followed his arm and saw a clear change in the rock about half way up, where it appeared to lead inwards into a small hollow or cave.

"How come we didn't spot it from above?" Elen asked curiously, thinking about when her father had hung over the edge of the cliff to get a better look.

"It's beneath an overhang," he answered simply. "And we wouldn't have seen it from down here, either, if we hadn't known it was there, especially not in this weather."

The boat drew level with their destination and their sailor, who hadn't told them his name, tied it firmly to a rock.

"I'd better stay down here in the boat," he said, sounding nervous for the first time, "and you'd better hurry, I'm not sure how long she'll hold."

Jack nodded and passed over his money, and then climbed out of the boat and onto the rock face, which was slippy with rain. To his surprise, Elen, Gwen and Toshiko followed him out. "Oh no, you can't come too, it's too dangerous."

Gwen looked at him sadly. "We're in this together."

Suddenly Toshiko slipped. She had only just been climbing out of the boat and fell easily back into it, but she landed awkwardly. She grimaced in pain. "I think I ought to stay behind, I'd only slow you down," she said regretfully. "And… you know, if anything should happen…"

Gwen shushed her. "We'll be ok, you just look after yourself."

The team of three now made their way up the rock, with strict orders from Jack to put their hands and feet exactly where he did. Jack went first, then Elen, and finally Gwen.

* * *

After the exhausting climb, narrowly escaping with their lives, they heaved themselves one by one into the cave.

The first thing they saw was a creature holding something at the back of the cave. Gwen and Elen stared, transfixed, but Jack exclaimed softly, "Lorelei."

She whirled round, dropping her baby to the hard ground, and it started to cry.

"Captain," she replied, her eyes glittering. "Yes… yes… you will be the best of them all…" she moved forward, arms outstretched and lips in a pout.

Ianto called out a cry of warning from a corner of the room (Gwen went to unfasten him and the unconscious Owen from the wall), but it was too late, Lorelei had started singing, and her lips were drawing closer and closer to Jack's.

And then they were kissing.

Lorelei flared with a sudden light. She tried to pull away but Jack held her tight with his left arm. Elen watched, horrified, as with his right hand, he pulled out his gun. Reaching around her body, he shot her in the back, and released her from his grasp.

She fell to the floor, silver blood gushing out of her wound, her hands covering her face as if she were ashamed to be suffering like this.

A particularly vicious gust of wind swept into the cave, and when it exited again it took with it a silvery light.

All that remained in the cave was a wailing baby.

Elen approached it and gently picked it up. It stopped bawling. In the time since it had been born, it had gained elegant features, and Elen's heart melted when she looked at it. She looked up at the sound of her father's voice. It was cracking.

"It can't stay, Elen."

No 'we can't keep it'; no 'it doesn't belong with us'. Just 'it can't stay'. And that could only mean one thing.

"No, dad!" Elen whispered, terrified. "You can't kill it!"

"Look at Owen!" Jack roared angry. Elen looked. He was a mess, unconscious on the floor, and very pale. Too pale. "If this thing stays alive, it'll grow up to be like its mother and end up killing more innocent people!"

Gwen gasped. "You mean Owen's dead?!"

Jack hesitated. "Not yet. That's why we need to get this over with and get the hell out of here so we can get Owen some help."

Still Elen clung onto the baby, shielding it with her own body. "If you're going to kill it, you'll have to me first."

Shocked silence, and not just at this remark. Simultaneously, Jack had raised his gun, and Ianto had leapt up, doing the same.

Elen began to cry. "You mean… you would do that?"

No reply. Jack whispered something in Ianto's ear, and comprehension dawned on his face, but Elen barely had time to register this as there was a shot.

The bullet tore through Elen and into Lorelei's baby. As Elen fell to the floor silently, without even time to scream, a silvery light flew out of the mouth of the cave.


	3. Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right

_Author notes: ooook, lovely, lovely reviewers! Thank you so, so much to izzfrogger, xebedy, LialaSword, kav and kav once again (she reviewed twice), drakebellfreak also… I couldn't have survived without your support! And I'm sorry for leaving you with a cliffy, but it was too good to be true! cough yeah, good… lol I didn't really know what I'd written until ten minutes later, since it wasn't in my plan and it was just a spur of the moment thing! And sorry for not including a preview for this chapter, I honestly completely forgot about it in the heat of the moment, but oh well, you'll live! Oh and by the way, sorry for the crappy title of chapter two, I just wanted to get it up and I couldn't think of anything better; any ideas, let me know! And REALLY SORRY FOR THE WAIT PEOPLE!!_

_Q: H__ow come Toshiko and Ianto had the tape of the rest of Torchwood getting burnt? Cos I thought they were trying to find the blank in the tape of another house that got burnt._

_A: Well I sorta answered this in the last chapter, but I guess it wasn't absolutely clear. Toshiko and Ianto did only access the one CCTV camera, not a network or anything. It's one of these weird twisted things that seem to happen to the Torchwood team, and I assure you it will only twist more. Something MAJOR is going on under your nose, and it won't be revealed for a while yet. By all means, guess, I'd love it if you did! But I ain't sure if you'll get it just yet… this chapter might help give you a little insight, though._

_Q: Confused about SJC person!_

_A: SJC are the initials of Shelley J Carter (I'll leave the 'J' to your imagination, mwahahaha). She is a criminal mastermind, an author, and has acquired a network of goons through her line of work (the law breaking line, not the book line. I think. Wow. I definitely want to become an author now; I get my own goons!). She has a husband and children, her mother died of cancer, her father is presumed dead as a result of a fire in his own house (which the Torchwood team did not, in the end, acquire footage of), and her brother is also a criminal. She has met Jack before, and knows of the rest of the Torchwood team. At the end of chapter one she had been arrested, but who knows what will happen next? (Answer: I do!) But _you'll _have to wait and see. But we'll definitely be seeing more of her!_

_Q: In the Torchwood series, Jack tells us that he never sleeps, but at the beginning of the last chapter he was 'still asleep' when Elen found Gwen and Owen kissing. Why?_

_A: Although Jack does tell us that he never sleeps, in the Small World episode, he is asleep at the beginning, so I don't think it's a problem. However, if you prefer, let's just say he was lying in bed and resting!_

_Q: Why does Jack say "What was I said when setting up the tents?"?!_

_A: Oops, sorry, typo! Meant to say "What was _it _I said when setting up the tent?". Even the best make mistakes sometimes :P_

_Q: Why didn't you describe the death in more detail?_

_A: Because that's not how a cliff hanger works. Don't worry, there's more of that to come in a minute! It wouldn't have worked otherwise; it would have just seemed silly, trust me._

_Q:__ What happens next??_

_A: Not telling! Oh, ok, fine, you twist my arm. Read on to find out!_

_Q: You better not kill off Owen!_

_A: NO COMMENT._

_Q: Did you _really _come up with this story line?? Cos it's a work of genius!_

_A: Why thank you! A lot! Jeez, by the end of this fan fic I will fancy a HELL of a lot of people :P. And yes; I _really _came up with these story lines, and I ain't half proud!_

_Q: ADD MORE RIGHT NOW!IF U DONT I WILL KILL U IN UR SLEEP,dont ask me how i will think of a way! also i love the fact that ur making owen get hurt!CONT. CONT. CONT.if u dont...BE READY TO BE KILLED..._

_A: Oh. My. Gosh. I'm not sure I've ever had a review like that._

**Disclaimer: Characters etc belong to BBC, Russell T Davies, and so on. Plot lines belong to ME and if you steal them then I will lure you into my boudoir and kiss you. I warn you, it has damaging effect. If this is even half as good as the work of Russell, I will be well pleased.**

_**This chapter is dedicated to MARISA! For all her help on this chapter, mainly with little things like space blankets and bad grammar, but it's all the little things that make up a story, so cheers :) And the much needed motivation! D**_

* * *

Needless to say… all was silent in the cave.

There was actually an awful lot of noise, but if you have ever been in the position when something completely unbelievable happens (usually for the worse) then you will know that sometimes, no matter what kind of dreadful noises are sounding around you, you just don't hear them.

Gradually the sound of blood rushing through the heads of the Torchwood team individually relieved them each from the silence, and then the tremendous noise of the river broke into their thoughts so severely that more than one Torchwood member stuck in that cave realised with dismay that they had been screaming.

And with good reason.

Without a word, and leaving Gwen screaming, Jack and Ianto picked Elen up between them and began carrying her to the mouth of the cave. Gwen came to her senses and yelled after them.

"STOP! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! YOU JUST KILLED YOUR OWN DAUGHTER! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HER, DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"

Gwen tried to follow but tripped and fell to the floor, crying. Hoarsely, she continued to berate the couple and would not listen is Jack tried to explain.

Jack got down on his knees and crawled nearer to Gwen; she screamed, drew back her fist, and punched him square on his nose, breaking it. He yelled, and went to help Ianto get Elen out of the cave and into the point. He stuck his head back in the cave, and, with a last attempt at order, told Gwen to stay there with Owen; that he'd be back later, and would explain everything.

Gwen was angry. Gwen was livid. What the hell were Jack and Ianto up to? One thing she knew for sure was that they could stay there. She shook Owen with all her might, but he would not wake up. She felt for his pulse and could not find it…

… she tipped his head back and put her cheek to his mouth. She closed her eyes with relief when she felt the tiniest tickle of breath on her face. He was living yet.

After several more minutes of trying to revive him, she realised it was no use. She wasn't a proper doctor. If it had only been the other way round, Owen would have known what to do! As a last resort, Gwen hauled him up over her shoulder, and staggered over to the side of the cave. She knew before she even glanced over the edge that it was impossible. She could just about keep him on her back, but it was hard enough to climb up on her back; it would be impossible to get down, and to top it off they had no boat, now, either. No doubt, Ianto and Jack had fobbed Toshiko with some false story and they were making an easy get away.

But what the hell was Gwen to do? She put Owen down again, tired. She laid his her on her lap, stroking his hair.

"I'm sorry, Owen. I'm so, so, sorry."

She lent down, tears trickling off her cheeks and onto his, and she lightly brushed her lips over his own.

Then, laying him down, she went to the mouth of the cave, looking for a route to get her out of there. She could go and get help- someone to get Owen out of the cave, and save his life- there was still time!

"… again…" the croak came from behind her, and Gwen leapt around. Owen was in exactly the same position, and his eyes were still closed. Had she been imagining it? "Kiss me… again…"

It was Owen! Gwen rushed over and knelt by his form. "It's all right, Owen, everything's okay, you're going to be all right, I'm going to go and get help because I can't carry you don't myself, just stay strong and everything will be okay, baby."

"Kiss… me… again…"

Not to want to refuse this dying man's request, Gwen obeyed, and leant down again to kiss Owen. With every second she could feel him getting stronger beneath her, and when she pulled away there was the Owen that she knew and loved, good as new on the stone floor- if a bit tired.

"HA! That is _brilliant_, Gwen! You just saved my life!" Owen leapt up and twirled Gwen round, kissing her again. "That's amazing! … where is everyone?" his smile faded, along with Gwen's.

Quickly she recounted the tale of what had happened since they'd got there. Owen listened with open mouthed dismay. When she had finished, he was wearing a scowl. "There'll be some changes made. It's time to put those bastards down."

* * *

Chapter Three- Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right

Elen woke up in her bed with a start. What. The. Hell. Was happening? Surely it wasn't just a nightmare… she turn over and almost threw up at the state of the sheets… they had definitely been white before… but now they were red, and they stank of blood. Okay. It wasn't just a nightmare. So why was she alive?

Suddenly she got a flash back of the recent events and her feelings soon turned from confusion to anger. Lots of anger. She leapt up and ran out, feeling her way blindly through her tears, making for the front entrance.

Locked. The back entrance? Also locked…

Elen was locked in. And where was her father? There he was! She flew at him, arms flailing. "What the HELL is going on?"

Jack just let her hit him, and said nothing until she stopped, and sat down, sulking. She was still rather weak, and no matter how much she wanted to go on hitting him, she just didn't have the physical strength. Besides, she wanted some explanation.

"Elen. I'm really, really sorry that this had to happen. There wasn't any time to give you an explanation before hand, things had to move quickly."

"What, and you _knew _that you'd be able to give me an explanation afterwards, right?" Elen retorted, scowling.

"Yes."

"No, dad. It was by chance. Luck. I almost died! You almost killed me!"

"No, Elen. You _did_ die. Don't you realise? You and I, we're the same. You know that. We can't die. Or at least, we will, but we'll come back."

"I don't feel so immortal, dad. I felt that bullet. I felt that pain."

"This had to happen. But please, don't hold a grudge against Ianto. He only did it because I couldn't."

"And why was that?"

"It seemed too big a risk. You and I are different to everyone else, and if we turned on each other… who knows what would happen!"

"I can't believe you had me shot."

"I'm sorry. That Lorelei had to go. It was dangerous."

"And what is Torchwood about? You find dangerous creatures and you _teach _them not to be like that! You don't kill them! I've not been here long but I know that's the way I would have done it. You're a cold blooded killer, and I'm not sure I want anything to do with you. Where are the others?"

"Ianto is upset with what he did, and with me, and he's hiding. Tosh is scared at what happened, and of me, and in pain, and she's hiding. Last I saw of Gwen, she was screaming at me, and Owen was unconscious. I had better go fetch them. I need to make sure Owen's okay. I'm sorry, Elen. So sorry. In life you have to make choices; and in my life, they're never easy. You're right that I acted rashly, and I regret that now, you don't know how much. I made my choice- and maybe it was the wrong one. But the Lorelei had already done enough damage."

"Not the baby. The baby had just been born!"

"It was part of its mother, Elen! It would have been just the same! I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry. But it had to be this way."

Jack Harkness left Elen to think this through, locking her, Tosh, and Ianto into the Hub again, while he went to see to Gwen and Owen.

* * *

Jack jumped into the car, and drove off at high speed, pushing a button concealed in the dashboard. It would alert the police that he would be driving over the speed limit, and to not pull him over, as this was an emergency. The journey didn't take long but it felt like an age, and he couldn't get in contact with Gwen.

He screeched to a halt at the police blockade. He could see the police women huddled around their car as he jumped out of the SUV… pushing through the group, he was not entirely surprised, but ultimately relieved, to see a dishevelled looking Gwen and Owen wrapped in space blankets and drinking coffee.

"Owen! You're still alive! And… conscious? What happened? Are you okay?"

Owen and Gwen looked at each other and forced themselves to smile at Jack.

"Gwen's been a good girl," Owen grinned, "she saved me!" And try as he might, that was all Jack could get out of any of them. He didn't want to push too hard, though, because he had an awful of explaining to do to them, too. He was both surprised and thankful that neither of them had asked him about what had happened down in the cave; too thankful to be weary.

"How're you feeling? Ready to go back to the base? We need to have… a team discussion."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Owen replied cheerfully- unusually compliant, though Jack didn't notice this, either- and jumped into the back of the SUV, followed by Gwen.

It was on the way back to the Hub on a shortcut that took them through the countryside that Gwen reached forward from them back and whacked Jack over the head with her gun. He fell unconscious immediately and was laid out on the back seat as Owen took the wheel.

"I know we can't kill him," Gwen said sadly, "and I wouldn't want to. But at least we can stop him doing any more harm."

They drove to an old place that Torchwood had once used for storage but was now empty. They tied Jack to a bar on the wall and left him there, unconscious, locking the door as they left. They would come back later- once the guilt overwhelmed them, Gwen though; as she was feeling slightly guilty already.

* * *

Back at the Hub, where Owen and Gwen were heading, Ianto finally showed his face. Elen was sitting on the sofa, feeling sorry for herself. He walked up to her slowly, holding a café au lait in one hand (her favourite coffee) and a bunch deep pink carnations in the other (her favourite flower- he had cut a few from a bunch that Gwen had brought in from Rhys the other day, to keep on her desk. She wouldn't miss them. She charged Ianto with looking after them, anyway).

"Elen?" she didn't look up. He put the coffee and flowers down on the table in front of her. He almost sat down, but decided not to. "Elen? I'm really, really sorry about what I did. Has Jack explained it to you?"

Elen stubbornly refused to reply.

"I'm so, so ashamed, Elen. I'm not a killer. I physically cannot kill anyone, or anything. I find it so hard to even think about doing it. But in the cave… I don't know what came over me! Jack whispered to me that you were safe as long as he didn't hurt you, and some other things, too- I don't remember exactly. And then I looked at the Lorelei… you didn't see it, Elen, you were too close. But its eyes… they were full of… malice. It was horrible. I could tell it was looking right at me- it got a small taster of me when it was part of its mother, and it wanted more. I've never been able to tell so much from one look. And you weren't there before, either… Owen and I were in that cave, and we saw and felt what the Lorelei could do to people. There were other men in there before, as well, according to Owen- but I didn't see them. We were too late to save them, as well- they're dead now, I presume, though I don't know what the Lorelei did with them. I've never felt so angry when I looked into someone's eyes before. It filled me with complete hatred. And I shot."

Ianto had just been speaking his mind without thinking about what he was saying, and was startled when he looked up to see tears on Elen's face.

"Trust me, Elen. It's something I never, ever want to do again."

All at once Ianto realised that he just had to sit down. His feet would not hold him any longer! He sat next to Elen, right on the age of the seat, and felt her small arm slip around his waist in a small, 'I-forgive-you' hug. Everything was going to be just fi-

The Hub's emergency telephone rang. All the communication systems that the team had been used to using had failed for the last few days. Toshiko couldn't make it out.

Elen jumped up and answered the phone quickly. "Hello?"

A pause. "Tosh?"

"Owen? No, this is Elen. What's up?"

Another, larger, pause. "Wait… what? Elen! What happened? How are you… how are you still alive?"

"Let's just say… like father, like daughter," Elen rolled her eyes- but Owen couldn't see that. "What? Um, okay… listen. Gwen and I are on our way back. We're fine. The SUV broke down, but it's not too far away, we're walking back. We parked on a double yellow, though- can you send another message to the police? Tosh knows how to do it."

"Sure… where's dad?

Another pause. "Thanks, Elen. We'd better get walking."

* * *

Not too far away, Jack jerked into consciousness in a cold sweat.

What was going on?! He had been tied to the wall! In any other situation, this would have been kinky. But in this dank, dark room, all alone, Jack didn't find it so.

It took him a moment to remember what had happened before he had been knocked out… and then he remembered he'd been in the car with Owen and Gwen.

Had there been a crash? But then, why would he be tied to the wall?

"OWEN!" Jack called. "GWEN?"

The only reply was the repetition of his words in a haunting echo. After calling their names a few more times, Jack established that Owen and Gwen were either too far away to hear him, or they were still unconscious.

He then turned his attention to his surroundings. It was hard to tell in the dark… wait… no! It couldn't be! Was this the old Torchwood storage house? Impossible! Barely anyone knew where this place was.

He thought back…

…_Owen and Gwen looked at each other and forced themselves to smile at Jack…_

…_He was both surprised and thankful that neither of them had asked him about what had happened down in the cave; too thankful to be weary…_

…_Owen replied cheerfully- unusually compliant, though Jack didn't notice this, either…_

Jack clenched his fist and in his anger wrenched at his rope.

Strong feelings lent him brute strength and he tried to free himself of his mooring… he almost succeeded, but the rope was tough and the bar still held. He couldn't do it, not for all the anger in the world. He boiled over… when he got out from the warehouse, he was fully prepared to tear Owen and Gwen limb from limb…

He checked himself. This was he'd doing. He'd started this off. He wouldn't lose control completely.

* * *

Elen rushed through the base, trying to find Toshiko. Ianto followed at a slightly more measured pace.

"Tosh? TOSH! Where are you? It's me, Elen. Hello?"

They found her crouched in Owen's medical examination room.

"My leg…" she croaked.

Elen remembered her fall when she was getting out of the boat and quickly explained the situation to Ianto.

Toshiko let him bind her leg with a splint without a word- the pain was obvious by the expression on her face. When he had finished she stood up, giving Ianto a weary look.

Elen knew what she was thinking. "It's okay," she smiled encouragingly; "we've worked it out. It was a misunderstanding… kinda. No hard feelings."

Ianto smiled back at her gratefully and they explained the phone call they had got from Owen.

"I think they might have done something to my dad…" Elen voiced her concerns dubiously after Tosh had alerted the police about their SUV. "I mean, a few hours ago, I wouldn't have blamed them, to be honest. But he's explained some things to me that got me half way to understanding, and you really helped too, Ianto, and I'm prepared to forgive and forget. At the end of the day, he's family, a team mate, and a friend. I don't want to get angry at Gwen and Owen or suspect them of anything, but… well; Owen wouldn't give me a straight answer when I asked him about my dad."

"I tried contacting Jack…" Ianto stated, stroking his chin, "but the network is still down. I couldn't get through. But that doesn't mean anything. You two stay here and wait for the other two, see what happened. I'll go out and see if I can find him."

* * *

Gwen and Owen had arrived back at the Hub, still feeling mad at Jack, but not quite sure they had done the right thing. Elen was okay, obviously, and her question had unsettled Owen…

The pair crashed into the doorway, which usually opened to their command. The crash came back too loud though, as if there were someone on the other side of the doorway. "Open up!" Gwen banged on the door. "It's only us! Why've you blocked the door?"

Ianto's confused voice came from the other side of the door. "That's what I was about to ask _you_!"

"You don't reckon Jack locked up when he left, do you?" Owen chipped in, frowning.

"Oh, yeah, probably, he mentioned something…"

The three tried to make their way through the door none the less, trying tactic, logic, and brute force. Then Ianto stopped dead in his efforts, even though Owen and Gwen continued.

"Speaking of Jack… WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?" Ianto screeched, shocking the other two out of their skins.

Before they had time to reply, another wailing filled the air; sirens. They had been trying so hard to get into the Hub, they had set the sirens wailing!

"Oh shit…" Owen complained, just loud enough for Ianto to hear him.

"I'm not having a joke, Owen, WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO JACK? WHERE IS HE?"

"You almost killed Elen, and at his command! We were keeping her safe…"

Ianto whacked his fist against the door in frustration. As briefly as he could, he explained what had happened and why, and what had occurred since. It was hard to show them that he wasn't a brute, when he had to shout at the top of his lungs to make himself heard over the sirens.

Suddenly a more delicate voice came from Ianto's side of the door; and though she seemed to be speaking more quietly, Gwen and Owen heard every word. Ultimately, Elen re-summarised what Ianto had just told them, adding her own reassurances that she was fully okay with the situation, and prepared to forgive them, and that they should, too.

There was silence as they thought everything over, and Gwen was the first to speak. "Okay. We acted rashly… sorry Ianto. You guys work on trying to get these bloody sirens off and the door open, and we'll go and fetch Jack. We… locked him in the old warehouse. He'll be fine," she gulped, crossing her fingers and closing her eyes, praying to God that she was right.

* * *

After typing a lengthy and difficult code into the main Hub computer, Toshiko finally managed to shut the sirens off, but they were still having difficulty getting the door open. The place was starting to heat up a little, and the strenuous work had the three stuck in side rather stressed out.

"I've found one potential solution…" Tosh announced, making Ianto and Elen look up from their game of cards (they could have been of no assistance to Tosh, and thought it best to keep out of her way). "But it's very risky. If I get one single character wrong, there will be a total lock down of the Hub. As far as I'm aware, in a total lock down there is _no way of getting out_. The lockdown is designed in case there is an extremely dangerous creature or alien virus in here (where as we are constantly looking at alien ideas, it is more likely to happen) or there is a great problem with the Rift that can be contained… that's when a total lockdown is to be used… so _nothing_, and _no one_, can get in, or out. So we have two choices. We can wait here, going crazy out of our minds and boiling, most probably- there _must _be something wrong with the heaters- or we can try to get out; but the penalty for a single, minute failure, is automatic lockdown. Game over."

Elen gulped and Ianto chewed a fingernail. None of them knew what to do. They would just have to wait for Jack; he would know of another way, surely, or he wouldn't have locked them in!

They decided to wait, and Tosh joined the game of cards, as they wish Gwen, Owen, and Jack, God's speed.

* * *

The other two ran full pelt towards the warehouse in which they had tied Jack.

"He'll have broken his bonds by now, surely? This is Jack we're talking about; he can get out of anywhere!" Gwen said, as much to her herself as to Owen. She didn't know whether this was a comforting thought or not; only if he headed straight back for the base, and didn't try to find them somewhere obscure.

"No, no way," Owen replied, dashing her thoughts. "Admittedly, that man is incredible- don't you ever tell him I said that, by the way. His head is big enough already. Yes, Jack is incredible. But he won't get out of that; it's impossible, not without someone else's help."

"Yeah, but Jack's like… worthy of at _least _two people… am I right?"

Owen rolled his eyes. "It's not like that, and you know it."

They reached the warehouse and crashed into it, already fearing the worst.

Jack was gone.

"Surely we'd have seen him on his way back to the Hub?" Gwen asked.

They rushed over to the place where he had been tied. The rope had been cut through cleanly, not undone or frayed. "What?!" Owen exclaimed. "That's impossible! I took his knife… I took Jack's knife!"

"Maybe he had two?"

"No. No no no. This is all wrong. I took his knife… there's no way he got out of here himself, anyway… not on his own. This is all wrong. Look!" he pointed at the floor a couple of metres away. "Scuff marks!"

"Owen, you're scaring me, stop it. We made those when we came in!"

"No. Oh no. We came in _here_, look!" he grabbed Gwen's arm and showed him their exact footprints, and where they'd gone in and out earlier, carrying Jack. "There are more footprints! They're not mine, or yours… or even Jack's. He's been visited! But by friends or enemies? Who the hell would have known he was here!?"

Gwen bit her lip as they rushed out again, and the cogs turned over in Owen's mind. He was no detective but he was sure something about that footprint jogged his memory.

If Ianto had been there, he'd have known for sure- maybe Tosh, even. For on the sole of the shoe that had made the imprint, there was a symbol. And that symbol was the same symbol that had been emblazoned on the side of the building on the top of which Ianto and Tosh had shared their first kiss.

Oh, Jack had been visited, all right!

* * *

_Next time on Torchwood: The First Step…

* * *

_

_"WHAT?! This is crazy…"_

_Tosh screamed over the sirens. "QUICKLY! ACTIVATE THE PATH IN THE RIFT!"_

_"It's worked! It's marvellous! My creations! My monsters!"_


	4. Fighting Fire With Fire

__

Author notes: I'm finally getting back on track with this story. Too little too late, it's turning out to be… I started April last year, and it's taken me this long to get this far s To be perfectly honest… I screwed it up. But long ago I set myself a challenge: I would finish this before my 16

_th__ birthday. Which doesn't give me long. At all. Particularly if I want to have a life, as well p_

_And though I'm not holding out much hope, I am going to work my darndest to try and fulfil my goal! If I don't, then I won't give it up; my aim for the latest time to finish this is the end of August, as I won't have much time after that._

_So wish me luck, and if you read this, please review, as it spurs me on to carry on writing! The readers make the author; and without readers, I am nothing. Cheers._

_Thanks to gwencooper and Charlie Bauble for reviewing :)_

_Oh and this is probably my favourite chapter of the story so far, I really hope I did it justice, let me know what you think!_

**Disclaimer: however hard I try, none of the Torchwood characters, set etc have fallen into my hands. Until that time, I cannot claim them as my own :(**

**However, the storyline is totally my own thang, and if you steal it, I will tie you to a pole in an old Torchwood warehouse. Touché?**

_**This chapter is dedicated to Nada really, because I love her, no other reason (apart from maybe that one of the goons is named after the dog that ate my sausage roll in the park today :)). She doesn't watch Torchwood and if she started reading this story, I doubt she finished p really, why do I love her? Makes no sense.. p Maybe I'll be able to rope her into reading this chapter… though she'll probably read the dedication and then leave it :) Read on, people! (and Nada)… (please)… :)**_

* * *

Another call on the Hub's landline.

"Hello?"

"Hi, it's Andy, your local police officer? Who am I speaking to?"

"Ianto Jones. I'll put you on loudspeaker. I'm with Toshiko Sato and Elen… Harkness." He did as promised.

"Is Gwen there?"

"Not at the moment, she's… out. What news?"

"To cut it short… we regret to inform you that one Shelley Carter has escaped from the station with four accomplices. Two of the accomplices- going by the names of Felix and Alfie Bloom- have been recaptured and are currently being questioned, though regrettably they are being obstinately silent. Mrs Carter and the others are still on the loose."

Grave silence filled the Hub.

"Another thing- unrelated. Your SUV has gone missing- we weren't sure if you picked it up or not?"

More silence. "No, we most definitely haven't. Unless Gwen or Owen did. We'll check it out. Er, thanks, Andy."

"All right. Bye."

The trio shared a glance. "Something tells me it wasn't Gwen and Owen who picked up the car…" Tosh announced.

"Me too," agreed Elen, "and if we work on the assumption that it wasn't… do we really think that Shelley's escape and the disappearance of our SUV was 'unrelated', as Andy put it?"

"That's what I was thinking," Tosh replied. Ianto looked uneasy.

They heard banging on the door, and Gwen and Owen's voices.

"He's gone!"

"What?"

"Jack! He's gone, and we think he's been taken. There were other footprints, and signs of a struggle."

"Shit!" Ianto swore. "We've got some bad news, too. Possibly, or even probably, related."

"What's that?" Gwen asked, worry growing in her voice.

"It's Shelley," Elen filled them in. "She's escaped."

"WHAT?! This is crazy…"

"And the SUV has gone, too… did you move it?"

"….no…"

"Then it's almost certain. Shelley's taken Jack in our SUV. And we're still locked inside! Jack was the only one who could get us out! What the hell are we going to do?! …Tosh?"

Tosh had a hard look in her eye. "Right."

* * *

Chapter Four: Fighting Fire With Fire

"There's nothing else for it. We have to get out of here. I have to get us out of here," Tosh began nervously. "There's simply no other way."

Ianto and Elen shared uneasy glances.

"Come on!" Toshiko cried with unusual vigour. "We have to! We can't let Gwen and Owen sort out Shelley and find Jack on their own; and if we don't try this, we can't get out _without _Jack. I've been turning it over in my mind all day, and I really can't think of any other possibilities. However, I thought of a possible way to negate the potential lockdown… Owen? Are you still there?"

"Present and correct…"

"Do you remember ages ago when we had an infestation of Eipha and Jack was considering a possible lockdown?"

"Ugh, yes. What of it?"

"Well, do you remember the problem? That one of us would have to stay inside the Hub to operate the lockdown; and then they wouldn't be able to get out themselves. But you found a solution…"

"… the transportation through the Rift thing? I don't see how that will help us, though."

"Because I am going to type in a very long and complicated code into the computer, and if I succeed, we can get out. If I fail, we have precious seconds, and then the Hub goes into lockdown mode. Now, do you remember the flaw Jack found with your idea?"

"Yes!" Owen rolled his eyes, but now he saw that Jack's earlier criticism could be of advantage to them now. "Well, the system would only transport one person; the person operating the controls. And they could end up absolutely anywhere in time and space. In the one time the manoeuvre had been performed before, they had reappeared just down the road; but that was sheer luck and it was very unlikely to happen again. Also, the motion would override the lockdown command and open the Hub up; so the Eipha wouldn't be contained anyway."

"Exactly. So if you teach Ianto how to operate this as a backup plan, then we're saved either way. If I get the code right, then we're free. And if I get it wrong; well, Ianto, you'll have to react immediately and set this into operation, and then we'll be free anyway!"

Owen began explaining the task to Ianto without any delay.

_For once, _Ianto thought, trying to drink the information in,_ for once, Owen is treating me as an equal, and not talking down to me._

It was a good job he couldn't see the faces Owen was pulling on the other side of the locked door, or he would have been sorely disappointed.

The explanations finished and Ianto felt confident that he knew what he was doing.

Then Owen piped up with the information Tosh had been waiting for. "Wait, Tosh… if we have to revert to the backup plan… you'll be sucked through the Rift. That last guy was lucky and ended up in Cardiff- but Jack was right; there's a reason why no one's attempted it since. It's dangerous. You could end up absolutely anywhere."

"I know. But I have to try. And if comes to that, then I'll be the one who's messed up the code in the first place, so I'll be the one who deserves to be shot into time and space." She smiled as the people around her opened their mouths to disagree. "It'll be fine. Either way, you'll be free. Let's hope I am, too. But Ianto; you must _promise _me to activate the path through the Rift if I make a mistake; otherwise we'll all perish in here. I'd much rather try my chances in some strange place in space, to be honest."

Ianto nodded and Elen gulped, and they could hear Gwen breathing heavily on the other side of the door and Owen trying to calm her. Elen stayed by the door to talk to them while Tosh and Ianto took up their positions and readied themselves. Tosh, always the one to be prepared, packed a small bag full of essentials, and her gun, and slung it over her shoulder while she worked. Just in case.

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And then came the moment Tosh would never forget. It was a simple mistake. She had typed 'ſ ' instead of 'f '; to the ordinary world, it wouldn't have been a problem, but Torchwood's computers were very high tech and wouldn't stand for these kinds of mistakes. Sirens wailed.

Tosh closed her eyes in disappointment and then yanked them open again, alarmed. Ianto was just standing there, paralysed with shock. "IANTO!" Tosh screamed over the sirens. "QUICKLY! ACTIVATE THE PATH IN THE RIFT!"

Ianto sprang into motion and remembered his instructions incredibly well considering the stress he was under.

As quickly as they had started, the sirens ceased, and Gwen and Owen tumbled through the door. The team turned around in dread. Toshiko had vanished.

* * *

Elen shrieked with frustration. "We were a team of six! Now we're only a team of four. This is _not _going good. What do we do now? We need to find Jack, and Tosh."

The team turned to face the door, as if the pair of them would simply walk through.

Needless to say; they didn't.

"I don't know how we even begin to look for them," Ianto moaned. "And you know what; Jack and Tosh are probably the two people who would know the best thing to do."

Owen decided to take control. "Well, I think we need to split up again. Some of us need to go to checkout the warehouse…"

"I'll go!" Ianto and Elen said instantly; simultaneously. They had both been cooped up in the Hub for far too long.

"…and some of us need to stay behind in the Hub to look at some CCTV and try to track the SUV. Ianto, Elen… I can see why you want to get out of the Hub, and that's only fair. But I thought either Gwen or I should go back there too; having been there, you know… Gwen?"

"I'm quite happy to stay here, if that suits you? I've used the CCTV and tracking systems a fair bit, I'll be all right. You three go along to the warehouse- I don't know how we can keep in touch, though…"

"It'll have to be mobiles," Ianto put in regretfully. "The comm.s are still not working properly."

"Mobiles it is!" Owen agreed, and he led the other two back the warehouse, leaving Gwen to set up her own line of work.

* * *

Owen made his way to the old warehouse for the umpteenth time that day, Elen and Ianto in tow. They made quick but weary progress.

Upon entering the warehouse, both Elen and Ianto cast uneasy glances at the rope with which their father and boss, respectively, had obviously been tied. Owen didn't know what to say; but thankfully the other two decided not to ask questions, which was probably best for them all.

Instead, Owen explained quickly all the footprints and scuffle marks. Ianto- who, at an earlier age, had fancied himself as a bit of a sleuth- knelt down carefully next to the marks, and gasped. "It's her! It's definitely her! The marks are a little disfigured now, of course, but do you see what was sculpted into the bottom of this person's shoe? SJC, but with all the letters intertwined, like they were on the side of that building where we went to get the CCTV…" he trailed off, excited. "Well, I suppose it doesn't tell us anything we didn't know already, but at least it confirms that this is the working of Carter. Where we go from here, though…"

* * *

Gwen tapped away at the keyboard. She suddenly felt for Tosh; this was where she should be, where she excelled, what she enjoyed… and yet, she was stuck who knows where! There was no clue as to where she had gone, what physical state she had arrived in, and… well, if she would ever get back. Any planet, any time, and universe… this one or a parallel. The Rift was incredible, and Gwen could quite easily see how some people had lost their minds studying the intricacies and wonders of it. She shook her head, and went to make herself a coffee. Guiltily, she thought a similar thing of Ianto and coffee as she had just thought of Toshiko and 'tapping away at the keyboard'. She allowed herself a small smile. She was alone, and she was only thinking.

The coffee did its job in waking her up. She got the CCTV footage very easily, and thanked God that the incriminating footage hadn't been removed, as had the footage they had needed for the chain mail case. Gingerly she skipped through the still footage of the SUV… coming to a halt when figures appeared on the screen… no, they were just youth vandals, and thankfully, they left the car alone (after a quick kick). Gwen commenced winding through the footage… car, car, car, car, car… no car! She'd missed it. Biting her lip, Gwen rewound the footage.

And there she saw, as clear as the computer screen before her eyes, a tied and gagged Captain Jack being bundled into the back by two large men. A stouter woman got into the driver's seat; and, after seemingly passing instructions to the two men, who were still standing on the roadside, drove off. Gwen now had two lines of information to pursue; the men, and the car.

After deciding to track the men first, Gwen realised with a jolt that the police had _already captured the two accomplices_. Damn it! She'd been barking up the wrong tree.

She next logged into her next piece of apparatus. She plugged in the unique code used to track the SUV (she had a similar tracking device on her own car; no privacy, simply no privacy!) and the co-ordinates of the point at which the car had been taken. Triumphantly slamming a thumb down on the 'enter' key, Gwen returned to her coffee, awaiting the results.

It was quite simple; yet a marvellous piece of technology. Gwen's eyes widened as she followed the route the SUV had taken after it had left her CCTV screen. And she saw now where it had ended up. Number 42, Joyl Street. She was surprised, understandably, that there was a house left to park it next to; but that was where the car was, and that seemed to be the next lead. She picked up her phone to call the others.

* * *

"Gwen!" Ianto said, answering his phone. "We've found conclusive evidence that it was SJC who came to get Jack!"

"Me too. I saw her loading him into our car."

"Christ, that woman knows no bounds! Did you manage to track the SUV?"

"Yes! And you'll never guess where it's ended up…"

"Where?"

"Joyl Street. Do you remember?"

"I'm not going to forget in a hurry. Well, this just about proves it. Shelley's not exactly been very careful this time. We'll recapture her and find Jack in no time, and then we can concentrate on finding Tosh."

"Yes, all right. But I want you to stay in constant contact with me. Like you said, I'm not going to forget the last time we were there in a hurry; and we can't lose anyone else."

"Okay, that's fair enough. Though it's not convenient to stay on the phone all this time… how about we call you every 15 minutes or so? But it's going to be tricky, so… only worry if it gets over half an hour. We'll let you know if we change the plan."

"All right then… if you're sure. I'll try and pull up CCTV of the street so I know when you arrive and can see what's going on, to a certain extent."

"Yeah, all right. We should get going now, anyway; we don't want to lose anytime."

"Good luck…"

Ianto put the phone down. "Everybody ready?"

* * *

Gwen put her phone down where she could easily reach it and set about the more complex task of finding the next CCTV she needed. Thankfully, Tosh had already done the hard bit for her, and though it took more brain and logic than Gwen would usually be prepared to put in, the task on the whole was not as hard as she had expected.

She settled back in her seat. She had a perfect view of the house and the car, but the screen was still; nothing was happening, nothing was moving. All quiet on the Western Front.

* * *

Ianto, Owen and Elen rushed out of the warehouse, Ianto explaining the situation.

Owen grinned. "In the palm of our hands!" he said.

Elen looked more wary.

They hailed a taxi, and thankfully the driver knew exactly where he was going, as the others weren't too sure.

They got out of the taxi at the end of Joyl Street, watched the taxi depart, and then made the rest of the way on foot.

They walked in the shadows and kept there eyes firmly on their destination, when Elen flung out an arm and stopped them. "Wait… there's something wrong. Where is the car?"

Owen cursed, and Ianto pulled out his mobile, quickly dialling Gwen's number.

* * *

"It's right outside the house!" Gwen cried impatiently. "I'm watching it on the CCTV right now. And where are you? I have the whole of the street covered; you must be very well hidden."

"Not as much as we'd like. We're across the road and a couple of doors down from number 42. Next to the big red car?"

"What?! Which car? Are you sure you're on the right street? The SUV is the only car parked on the street, according to the CCTV…"

"It looks like the CCTV has been tampered with then! We're _definitely _by the right house… Gwen, wh-"

The line went dead.

Gwen groaned. This was not looking good. And she had no idea what had happened to the others; desperately she tried phoning Ianto, Owen, Elen, but to no avail. She looked at the CCTV footage more closely and noticed a leave blowing across the road… five seconds later, another leaf blew across, in the exact same path and manner of the first leaf. Five seconds later, another leaf… five seconds… another leaf… Gwen slammed her fist down on the table in annoyance. It was on a loop! And by the sounds of things, the other three were in trouble…

She let out a small sob. First Jack, then Tosh. Now Elen, Ianto… _and _Owen. This just wasn't fair. She would have to work alone, to find her five comrades. It wouldn't be easy, but it would have to happen.

* * *

"Ah look, they're starting to come round." A woman's voice penetrated the silence of Jack's prison like a knife.

"Should I give them another dose of the sleepy draught, m'lady?" A man's voice this time; quite obviously devoted to his craft, and his 'mistress'.

"No, no. It's time to reunite Jack with his little friends."

Jack shuddered, and, had he not been gagged, would have spat out an ugly curse. So it was as he had feared; his friends and colleagues had been captured. Who and how many, he could only guess at. But he would give his life for any of them, three times over, and Shelley knew that, and that was the biggest weapon she had over him.

The clank of metal on metal. Three silhouettes were pushed through the door to Jack's iron cage; they stumbled and fell.

He rushed over to them- as well as he could managed, restricted as he was by these ropes. Sadly he recognised his own daughter, Ianto, and Owen.

They gazed up at him in concern. They, too, were tied, gagged, and rather dirty. The four grouped together in the far corner of the cage as Shelley began to speak again.

"iPod!" she began. Every face in that cage showed a look of complete bafflement. "iTunes! iPlayer! And now… iFire. A new creation. Of my very own doing." She laughed. "I didn't bother to patent it. Nobody else is as diabolically clever as I; it will not be challenged. And you, my dear guinea pigs, are to test it." She chuckled again, and then glared. "I have already tried to get rid of you once. Unhappily, I made a mess of it; of that, there is no doubt. You were too strong to let fire destroy. But this time… what if, the fire was _inside_ you? _What if the fire was inside your soul?_ Inside fire. iFire. Fire, in other words, to make you every bit as diabolical as me. I will not only destroy you internally but have you destroy the ones you love and work with, and destroy all that is Torchwood, back at your base." She spat. "No, my dears. There will be no escape this time."

She signalled to her two accomplices and they stepped forward, carrying guns. They could smell the fear emanating from the cage. Both men shot twice. Before Jack passed out he had time to see that they had not used bullets, but had shot darts at them; one for each, no doubt, with a chemical in them. Poisoned darts.

A few minutes later the four had come round again; but they had changed. Each had a grey tinge on their skin and a glazed look in their eyes. Not one of them moved.

Shelley Carter clapped her hands gleefully. "Stand up!" she ordered; and the four did just that. She turned to her comrades. "Remove the gags, and the ties."

They did so. The cage door was left open. The four prisoners just stood there. Not one of them moved. Not one of them spoke. Shelley grinned, and said just one word. "Torchwood."

It was like a trigger word. Immediately all four of her prisoners leapt into a frenzy; running at the bars of the cage, clawing at each other, biting, screaming, _growling_. It was great! Well, in Shelley's opinion. "It's worked! It's marvellous! My creations! My monsters! Now, darlings," it had to be a first! Shelley callings them darlings?! "attack! DESTROY YOUR HUB, AND ANYBODY IN IT. Spare nothing."

Her monsters obeyed.

* * *

Gwen started up when she heard footsteps. She was scared at first; but then she saw who it was.

"Jack!" Gwen grinned, flinging her arms around him. He pushed her off with unusual vigour and Gwen was thrown backwards, landing heavily on the floor. "What the-?! Jack, what's up?!"

He took out his gun and fired it into a nearby computer screen; it sparked and smashed, bits glass and metal and plastic flying everywhere, a few spearing Gwen, who was still on the ground. Owen, Elen, and Ianto followed him into the Hub, and Gwen appealed to them instead.

"Guys, what's happened to Jack? He just-" she was cut off mid sentence when Ianto flung a book at her, and Owen kicked her hard in the face as he walked by. Blood poured down her face from her nose; it was broken, surely! What the hell was going on? She could barely breathe from fear; the elation she had felt at first at seeing her comrades had completely disappeared. Everything about this situation was wrong. WHAT THE _HELL_ WAS GOING ON?!

Gwen picked herself up and found Jack in the boardroom. She tried to restrain him as he was trying to set a match to a pile of papers. He threw his elbow back into her stomach, winding her badly and sending her flying into a cabinet. She picked herself up again nevertheless, and went to see what the others were doing.

Owen was mindlessly beating the hell out of medical bed. Elen had set some papers alight, screwed them into balls, and was chucking them at the pterodactyl. And Ianto… what was Ianto doing? He seemed calming than the others, bending over his desk… there was an almighty crash as one of the legs fell off. If it hadn't been such a horrific situation, Gwen would have laughed; for Ianto, being Ianto, even in this crazed mindset- whatever the hell it was- had systematically set about _unscrewing the legs to his desk_. The others were just smashing up and setting alight everything in their reach, but Ianto's destruction was very intricate and planned…

Seeing he was the calmest, Gwen rushed down to try to speak to him. When he noticed her he abandoned his desk and advanced on her with the screw driver still in hand. She began back away but stumbled over some fallen cabinets.

"IANTO!" she screamed. "Please tell me what's happened to you! What're you doing?!"

He stopped in his tracks, and said in a monotone, very un-Ianto-ish voice: "We have been set on fire. Now we get revenge. The Hub must be destroyed. All within the Hub must be destroyed. Gwen Cooper must be destroyed." And at these words he started towards her again.

"STOP!" he stopped, and cocked his head to look at her. "Who told you to do this? And… and what happens, after you've destroyed me, and the Hub… what happens to you then? Do you think people are just going to let you get away with this?! You'll be destroyed yourself!"

"The fire told us. When Gwen Cooper is dead, and the Hub is dead, and all inside the Hub is dead, next we destroy all of Cardiff, all of Wales, all of Britain, all of Europe, and then the world. There will be no one left to destroy us." He started towards her again. They were now no more than a metre apart.

"And this is what the fire told you to do?"

"The one who gave us the fire did not wish this. But the fire has taken its hold, and now we are unstoppable."

"Who gave you the fire?"

"The fire giver."

"Who's the fire giver?"

"She gave us the fire. Now we are unstoppable."

He plunged his screwdriver into Gwen's arm and she screamed in pain. She tried to throw Ianto off but he was too strong. He would just punch her in the face or stab her again in the arm every time she tried to rebel against his hold.

He was trying to kill her. She knew now. So she did the only thing she could think of; she played dead. Maybe then he would leave her alone and she could try and get this awful pounding out of her head and think a little of what she should do.

She lay as still as she could manage, and held her breath. The beating stopped. She felt breath on her face as Ianto must have bent over her checking she was dead.

Footsteps as he walked away, satisfied.

Gwen started breathing again and opened one eye a crack. Ianto had left his desk and was tearing pages out of books to use as ammo with Elen. These creatures, it seemed, had started a game! _Five points if you hit its tail,_ Gwen thought, _ten if you hit it in the face._

Now that they were distracted, she decided to move somewhere safe. She crawled into the space next to Tosh's desk; the computers there had already been smashed up, so it was less likely the three would come there again. One screen flickered in and out of life, a pop-up sitting there, ignored, on the desktop.

Physically, Gwen was unable to restrain even Elen, the smallest of the four. They all seemed to have gained super-human strength; and besides, Gwen was now battered and bruised- her strength was completely down. She fondled her gun. She would use it, in self defence, if she had to. But she couldn't bring herself to hurt them. They were quite obviously not themselves. They would never be doing this of their own free will, in their right minds. Something had obviously happened to them, and Gwen wanted to get the real Jack, Ianto, Owen and Elen back, not kill them completely.

Something distracted Ianto from his game, and he glanced away.

"Gwen Cooper gone!" he wailed. "Gwen Cooper _not dead_!"

Jack stopped him, and said in an almost childish voice, "you carry on destroying the pterodactyl; I'll deal with Gwen Cooper."

Ianto nodded and after a quick search, Jack found Gwen, who was shaking with fear.

"Gwen Cooper been a bad girl!" he chastised. "Gwen Cooper not die properly! Now Gwen Cooper die… all must be destroyed. We are unstoppable."

He lifted his gun, but Gwen got there first, and shot. Sobbing, she held Jack's motionless body to her. It shouldn't have to be like this…

Sighing, she turned over possibilities in her mind. What was it Ianto said? After they'd destroyed her and the Hub, they'd next attack everything else… all those innocent people, with nothing to do with mystery and violence like this. What was she to do? Gwen's mind easily found the answer. She didn't like it, but it had to be done.

She knelt up and quickly took a look at the flickering computer screen. "Yes!" she muttered under her breath. At last something was going her way. For the pop-up that she had noticed earlier read:

"**Suspected breach of Hub security. Evacuate immediately. Recommended lockdown- press OK."**

Gwen pressed ok. They could destroy her and everything else in the Hub, but with these precautions in place, they would never get out of the Hub. It would be contained destruction.

If she had had enough strength, Gwen could have got out of the Hub in time before the lockdown began; but she was exhausted, and besides, she had to try and help her friends. The sirens started up; she gasped and suppressed a scream as Jack started stirring before her…

She had forgotten that important detail; Jack couldn't die, no matter how hard he tried. In a way, it made Gwen feel better, for she wasn't really happy with killing anyone, even in self defence. She would just have to take things as they came.

"What's going on?"

"What?

Jack had lost the weird voice and was talking perfectly reasonably. "I said, what's going on? Oh my God Gwen… how did you get all those cuts and bruises?! And what the hell has happened to all the equipment?!"

He was about to stand up, but Gwen grabbed him and pulled him down. She quickly recounted the tale of everything that had happened, explaining that Ianto, Owen and Elen were still in this strange state. "I… I shot you, Jack. You were going to kill me. Ianto already tried once. So I shot you. I forgot at the time that you couldn't die… but maybe that's what broke off the spell of the 'fire' that Ianto was talking about…"

"Shoot Elen," Jack ordered immediately.

"What!"

"Shoot Elen!" he said again. "She's like me; she can't die. And if what you've said is right, it will free her from this… iFire…"

"iFire?"

"That's what it's called, I'm sure of it… I vaguely remember things happening before now, but there's this huge blank spot in my memory. It was Shelley, Gwen. Shelley Carter again."

"I know."

"Please, Gwen. Free Elen."

Gwen took up her gun once more and aimed out from the side of the desk. One shot, perfectly aligned; Elen fell down. Jack winced. Owen and Ianto ignored her and continued destroying the Hub. Jack stood up and made his way to Elen, smashing a table and setting alight some papers on the way; he was obviously pretending to still be controlled by the iFire, so as not to arouse the suspicions of Ianto and Owen. Jack picked Elen up and brought her back to where Gwen had stayed.

"Oh, and one more thing, Jack…" Gwen said nervously, as they waited for Elen to come round. "I set the Hub into lockdown. Ianto had said that you guys where going to move on and destroy Cardiff and… and so on. So I thought it would be best if I kept you all in here. I wasn't strong enough to get myself out, and I wanted to see if I could help you…"

Jack swore. "You did the right thing, Gwen. I'm proud of you. But it's gonna take a lot to get out of here."

Elen stirred, and opened her eyes. "Where am I? What's going on?"

This time Jack explained all the details and Elen listened, wide eyed. She sat up, confirming that she felt fine. Jack was still worried about the lockdown. "First things first, though," he said, "we have to sort out Owen and Ianto."

He ordered Gwen to stay where she was and dress her wounds, making mobility as easy as she could given the circumstances. He and Elen got back up pretended to be under the control of the iFire again, making the way to Owen and Ianto.

There were too crashes… Gwen couldn't resist the urge to see what was going on. Jack had Ianto on the floor (little did she know at this point that there would be more of this to come) and already tied, while Owen was being pinned down by Elen; she waited for her father to assist her before they tied Owen up. Gwen smirked a little. She would enjoy telling Owen how he had been taken out by Elen…

Jack picked up Owen, and carried him off. Elen beckoned to Gwen and between them they picked up Ianto, following Jack. They were going down to the cells. They were put in separate cells and untied before the doors were quickly closed on them.

Gwen observed them; they were both restless, and showed no signs of calming down.

* * *

Jack fixed up Tosh's computer as best he could. He hurried looked through the settings; and finally rubbed his eyes, sighing. "It's too late to negate the lockdown using the Rift, like you say Tosh did. However, if I change a few of these settings and open the Rift in the right way, I may be able to save us yet. But it'll be dangerous. Very dangerous."

Elen and Gwen looked at each other uneasily. That said, the danger they'd just been through currently seemed incomparable to anything.

"Elen, Gwen," Jack said, wearily. "I need to work on this alone. Try and restore the Hub the best you can. Put out fires, and fix things where they can be fixed; I need a fully operational base. If things are destroyed beyond repair, chuck them out. If copies need to be taken of partially destroyed notes and files, do that. It's going to be a long but helpful job. Try and get at least one of the other computers working, and pull up footage of the cells. Keep an eye on Owen and Ianto. If the slightest thing happens, let me know straight away."

The two girls obeyed, and got to work on a much needed clean up.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the Hub was looking slightly more respectable, Owen and Ianto had done nothing more than growl and punch the walls, and Jack had a found a solution- of sorts. He called the girls over.

"Listen and listen carefully, and don't dispute anything I tell you now. I've found a solution. I'm going to wire myself into the Rift." He held up his hand to stop their objections. "I said no disputes! I'm going to wire myself into the Rift. I'm also going to wire myself into the main system of the Hub. The energy of the Rift will flow through me into the Hub and I'll be able to negate the lockdown."

"Can't you connect the Rift directly the Hub?"

"No."

"Are you sure that this will work?"

"Positive."

He got up and made the preparations. Once again, Gwen and Elen looked at each other nervously, and then continued with their own work. He knew what he was doing. If he needed help, he would let them know.

A few minutes later he took Gwen to the side and showed her a switch that he had obviously just put together himself. "When I say now," he said seriously, "you pull that switch, Gwen. Whatever happens. You _must pull the switch_."

Gwen nodded, and Jack got her to help him connect himself up to various other switches, wires, and contraptions.

Elen came over to watch. "Good luck, dad."

"Good luck, Jack," Gwen echoed.

He flicked a few switches and pressed a few buttons, and the whole Hub seemed to whir into life. Sparks like lightning flew around and Gwen and Elen fell to the floor. Jack seemed to light up, and even rose into the air slightly! Then the screaming began, and tears ran down Elen's cheeks as she listened to her father in so much pain.

Gwen's hand tightened on the switch, wanting to throw it now and free Jack, just get him out of this… and then came the "NOW!" screamed like a wild cat, and Gwen pulled the switch with all her might.

The huge whirring of the machine ceased, the lightning stopped, and Jack fell to the ground. The two girls rushed over to him.

He ground and turned over. "The door!" he said. "Try the door!"

Gwen jumped up and ran to the door; it was open. She cheered. On her way back to Jack, her eyes locked on the computer screen; to her horror, so were the other doors. The doors keeping Ianto and Owen in their place.

Jack swore again and jumped up, pain forgotten. He rushed to the door which led down to the cells, and pressed a large red button. He turned to the other two. "Don't worry, that just seals off that section of the Hub, the rest is fine. We'll get them out later."

"What do we do now?"

"I want you two to stay here, still. Carrying on sorting out the Hub. I know it's menial work but it has to be done. Keep an eye on Owen and Ianto, too."

"What're you going to do?"

"I have an appointment with a lady called Shelley."

"Dad, no! It almost killed you, last time! And look what happened when we tried to save you! Owen and Ianto are still stark raving mad, Tosh is still lost God only knows where, and Gwen and I were very nearly killed!"

Jack gulped, guilt flowing through him. "Oh God, I know. I'm such an idiot. But I have to do this; otherwise we'll never get anyway. I have to get this fire out of those two. Are you with me?"

"With you," Gwen and Elen agreed simultaneously.

* * *

It didn't take long for Jack to find Shelley. She was hiding out in the warehouse where this had all begun; she had a TV set up showing her the scenes from inside the Hub- all for her amusement, of course. It appeared that the CCTV had failed her sometime before, though, and so for once it was a surprise when Captain Jack Harkness turned up on her doorstep.

"Shelley," he said fiercely, marching over and getting straight to the point. "This has got to stop. Tell me how to remove the iFire."

She choked on her words, unable to come up with a cocky, or even dignified, reply. "How did you get free!"

"That, I am afraid, I will not be telling you; only to have you make improvements, no doubt. Yes, I am free. But the iFire is still working, and I demand that you remove it."

"Do what you like to me," Shelley said boldly. "I shall never give it up. It was such a marvellous creation of mine!"

Jack took a step forward and grabbed her arm. He never meant to hurt her, just scare her. But before he could see another word, the damage was done.

You see, Jack still had the power of the Rift surging through him. It was only his physical and mental prowess that enabled the Hub to stay open and intact. And sometimes, at times of great emotion- for at that moment, he was very angry- it was hard to keep the power of the Rift under control.

Anger surged through his body and into Shelley's; she collapsed straight away. She was only mortal. She had been overwhelmed.

Jack sat on the floor next to her and held her in his arms. He hadn't wanted to kill her. But he had. She was dead. He held her close until the fear of tears had subsided.

His mobile rang. It was Gwen. "I don't know what you did, Jack," she said, sounding cheerful, at last, "but it worked! Owen and Ianto are fine again. I haven't let them out yet. I thought I'd wait for to check. Owen's being a right moody git about it, but that just tells me he's back to normal!" she laughed, and Jack joined her.

"All right. I'll be back in a tick."

So, destroying Shelley had destroyed the fire? That was interesting.

He picked her up and carried her out through the back door where there was a small patch of grass and a shed. Setting her down, he got out a spade from the shed and dug her grave.

* * *

_Next time on Torchwood: The First Step…_

* * *

"_Um… wow. Who is that?"_

* * *

"_Not for much longer…" he cackled evilly, and started plucking the strings._

* * *

"_It was incredible… awful, but incredible."_

* * *

"_It's useless. Give it up."_


	5. As Guitars Gently Weep

_Author notes: fifth chapter :) exciting stuff! This chapter is the first one that has large chunks of first person narrative in it, so watch out for that :)_

_Remember to review once you've finished reading! Hehe. Cheers to gwencooper, The Fifth Game, and januarymars for the reviews! Thank you, really… readers are the reason I'm keeping this up :)_

**Disclaimer: still don't own anything. sigh. Well, apart from the plot. And yup, I **_**do**_** play the guitar, and if you don't behave I may pay someone to enchant it for me. So watch out.**

_**This chapter is dedicated to Hannah; wasn't the intention when I started out, but when I came to the line about walking into an invisible wall, I knew I couldn't dedicate it to anyone else xD. Love yoou :)**_

* * *

Jack rushed back to the Hub as quickly as he could. He would never forget Shelley; that was for sure. Never forget her- for the good moments, and the bad. Jack couldn't deny that the world was most probably a better place without her; but he had past connections that it had been hard to shake off when she had changed her tune.

Pushing her out of his mind, he ran through the doors; and then stopped so suddenly it was as if he had run into an invisible brick wall. For yes, Gwen and Elen were there. Yes, they had been joined by two others. But no, those two others were _not _Ianto and Owen; as Gwen had said, they were still locked in the cells, just in case. (If he strained, Jack could hear Owen's objections.)

Toshiko Sato grinned and ran to Jack, throwing her arms around him. "I'm so glad to be back!" she exclaimed, laughing at Jack's expression; he was still in shock, and looking at the other new arrival.

"Um, wow!" he said, biting his lip. "And who is that?"

* * *

Chapter Five: As Guitars Gently Weep

The stranger leapt up, extending his hand roughly. "The name," he said, "is Janki Marvix. I'm with Toshiko." He tried to drape his arm around her shoulder, but she shoved him off.

"No you are _not_!" she exclaimed. "Well… you are. But only because it's necessary; not because I have any feelings for you whatsoever."

'Janki' looked hurt. He picked up his guitar (which, beforehand, had lain on the floor, unnoticed by all) and plucked the A- string. "How about now?"

"NO!" Tosh screeched, pushing roughly past him.

Jack pointed to the new arrival angrily. "You! Marvix. Stay there. I'm going to retrieve two of my colleagues and when I return, you can tell me what the hell you're doing here!"

He strode off to release Owen and Ianto, but not before hearing a murmured reply about 'having to ask Toshiko'.

Jack pressed the button to free his friends from their prison. Owen was the first to stride out quickly.

"About BLOODY time!" he said, sarcastically.

"You're welcome!" Jack replied, raising his eyebrows and giving Ianto a 'welcome back' pat on the shoulder.

The three of them marched back to where the others were sitting; Jack quickly confided in them the situation on the way, most of which they had gathered through listening. (Well, what else were they supposed to do, cooped up down there? Talk amiably? No way!)

"Right," Jack began again. "Marvix. Talk to me."

"You can't talk to _me _like that! I demand some respect!"

"Listen to me, buddy, and listen carefully. You are in no position to demand _anything_; least of all, respect!" Jack was still stung from the way Marvix had treated Tosh, earlier. But perhaps he was overreacting a little.

"You want a bet?" Marvix asked, grinning. He picked up his guitar again and this time played a more complex tune.

After about 30 seconds of this utter nonsense, Jack held up his hand. "All right. So you can play the guitar, pretty well. What of it?" he was shifting his gaze from Marvix, who's expression was rapidly turning from elated to shocked and frightened, and Tosh, who's expression had remained on the latter for the last few minutes.

After and awkward silence, Tosh spoke up. "I think I'd better explain…"

* * *

_After Ianto activated the path through the Rift, I couldn't see or hear anything for a long time. In reality, it may have only been minutes; __**but**__, I __**could **__feel, and what I felt was a lot of pain, and so this, obviously, would tend to lengthen the stretch of time in my mind's eye._

_When I was finally 'brought back to my senses', so to speak, I was hopeful. I was as sure as anything that I was on Earth, at least! And, if I listened to the people around me, (I had 'landed' in a rather cramped market place. From the reactions of several people, my arrival had been seen; but most, I believe, put it down to their own poor eyesight), I realised that I was in an English- speaking country! So far, so good. Then I heard someone behind me speak Welsh, and I became even more hopeful!_

_Soon I had established that I was in Cardiff, and that the date, month, and year were all the same as when I'd left! Time had moved on a couple of hours, though._

_I was elated, of course, but surprised. I had just managed to convince myself that is was true, when- oh, it was very odd! A young blonde girl marched __**right**__ up to me, and told me: "You don't belong 'ere, do you?" I was startled beyond speech! The girl continued. "You know you don't. You're Tosh, right?" Once again, I was flabbergasted. "Don't ask me how I know. I've heard about you." I opened my mouth to speak at last, but she cut me off. "Don't ask me who I am. It's not important._

At this point in Tosh's tale, Jack shifted uncomfortably in his chair. The whole team had noticed the change in his demeanour since Tosh had mentioned the 'young blonde girl'. Marvix was staring at his feet, sulking.

_The girl then proceeded to tell me that even though I was in the same time and place, I was in a parallel universe. She wouldn't tell me how she knew. I told her that I may not know how she knew so much about me, but one thing I __**did **__know was that it was pretty much impossible to travel into parallel universes._

"_You're right there, Tosh," the girl had replied, smiling. "It __**is **__'pretty much impossible'. But it's __**not **__impossible! I did it," she went on, the smile dropping. "I didn't want to, but it happened. And there's no way of me getting back. But somehow, I know there's a place for me in this world. But there's not one for you, Tosh. You don't belong here. I don't know how you're going to do it but you __**need **__to get back to where you belong- as quickly as you can."_

_The girl gave me a small smile and then walked away with the crowd. I never saw her again. I never found out who she was, either; or how she knew so much. But __**something**__ made me decide to trust her, and from then on, everywhere I went, everything I did, I was on the look out for someway to get back here. You have no idea __**how**__ many times I visited the place where the Torchwood headquarters should have been- but there was nothing._

_And to top things off, not only did I __**not**__ find a way home, but I __**did **__find something- or someone- else, at great inconvenience. And that's where __**Janki Marvix **__comes into this._

* * *

Tosh had spent her first night in this parallel world in an inn. She made friends with the owner straight away. Her name was Jodi Malt and she was a gossip- just what Tosh needed. If anything unusual or different was going on, Jodi would tell her. And this was how she hoped to get home.

It was on her second night at the inn that Jodi mentioned the new resident; a man going by the name of Mr Marvix had come to stay. He had brought nothing other than the clothes he wore, some money, and a guitar. Strange goings on seemed to occur around him. Food would go flying, ornaments falling- only small things like that. It was nothing to worry about. Yet.

Then things started getting a little more sinister. Things going missing, fights breaking out all over the place; little crimes, but crimes nonetheless. All these happenings seemed to revolve around Mr Marvix, and deep down everyone knew that he was to blame, but there was never any evidence, and many others were convicted of his crimes. To cut a long story short: all hell broke loose.

Meanwhile, Toshiko Sato had made friends with the Cuic family. Mr Oko Cuic, Mrs Nina Cuic, their 28 year old son Omar Cuic, and baby Kyla Cuic welcomed her into their home like she was a family member. Little Kyla was shy at first but soon she would follow Tosh all around the house; and Omar really began to take a shine to her. A blush came to his cheeks every time they bumped into each other accidentally; and he often took to following _Kyla_ around the house, just to have an excuse to be with Tosh. For her part, Tosh knew that she was falling for Omar, and fast; and so she made every excuse to be _out _of the house. She knew that eventually she would have to leave, and she didn't want her heart broken again- not now.

Everyday was routine. She would get up before anyone else, buy breakfast in a local store, and then make her way to the site of Torchwood 3. For an hour she would work around the area, trying to find a way in. Everyday, she failed. Then she would sit for another hour or half updating her journal; she would log about the Cuics, the Torchwood site, Marvix… for he often visited her there, as she searched for a way in. She did her best to hide her intentions, but she knew that he had gathered she was looking for something. He'd always offer to help; and occasionally, she'd hear a whisper in her head to go home with him… _go home with Janki… Janki Marvix… he is the one you want…_

She waved the thoughts away as if she were batting away a fly; the thoughts disturbed her, they annoyed her, and they just wouldn't go away.

Neither would Janki Marvix. He had almost become a part of her schedule. He would sit and play his guitar for her, and no matter how she tried to run from him, to hide from him, to politely decline his company, he would always turn up, and he would always have an excuse to be there, and she could never turn him away, unless she wished to cause trouble. Trouble was the last thing she wished to cause. She was in enough trouble already.

* * *

After updating her journal, Tosh would go and visit Jodi.

"You sorted things out yet, love?" would be Jodi's first question of the day.

"No, not yet. But it could be any time; I mightn't have time say goodbye, Jodi."

"I know. You tell me every day."

Of course, Jodi didn't really know the first or last thing about Tosh; the only thing she _did _know was her name. Tosh had only told her that she might have to leave suddenly. Quite unlike her nature, Jodi hadn't asked why. Maybe it was the graveness in Tosh's face that stopped her. Maybe it was the sadness in her voice when she simply said "I don't belong here." _Maybe_, it was that Janki Marvix- with, of course, every right to be there- peering over his pint at the two friends, obviously straining to hear every word.

Jodi dropped her voice. "I've not seen that blonde girl you asked me about. Not a flicker."

It was the same thing every day. Tosh sighed and finished her drink, thanking Jodi, thanking her for everything.

"See you tomorrow!" Jodi called as Tosh took her leave.

Tosh teetered on the threshold. She was on the brink of saying "I hope so", "I doubt it", "I'll see you"… but, unable to say any of those things, gave a short nod, and tried to get away before Janki found her again.

Jodi sighed, cleaning a glass. She could tell that her friend was unhappy, but she didn't know how to help her.

* * *

Tosh weaved in and out through stalls, looking at the merchandise on sale for anything that looked… slightly out of the ordinary. Now and again she'd stop by a tradesman who wasn't busy and ask them if they'd seen the young blonde girl she had described. None of them had. She quickly moved on before she was roped into buying something.

* * *

Something was bugging Tosh. She went back 'home', but Omar and Kyla were too distracting and she couldn't think. She hurried through dinner and made her excuses; back she went to the site of Torchwood 3, where she spent most of her time.

"You're like a haunt to this place, aren't you?"

Tosh whirled round. She might have known; Janki Marvix was standing before her. In seconds he had shortened the gap between them until they were almost touching.

"You're like a little ghost, aren't you?" he continued. Tosh remained silent. "Sometimes…" he went on, brushing his hand against her cheek, and blushing as she recoiled, "sometimes, I wonder if you're really ever here."

"And _sometimes_," Tosh spat pointedly in reply, "I really wish I _wasn't_!"

_Go closer, Tosh. Touch him. Hold him. Kiss him._

Tosh blinked. Why was she having these thoughts? Marvix repulsed her. She realised with a start that he had his guitar out again and was strumming playfully on the strings.

Tosh started to walk away. "No! Don't go!" Janki called. _Don't go_, thought Tosh. "Please! You won't let me talk to you, ever! I just want to… talk… to you…" _He just wants to talk to you. Let him talk to you. Don't go_.

"If I let you talk to me," Tosh replied wearily, "will you leave me alone? Will you stop following me?"

So she had noticed! "All right," said Janki convincingly. "If you don't want me, I'll… I'll stop following you."

"Good. Okay. What do you want to say to me?" Tosh resigned herself to the chat, and sat down on a step. Needless to say, Janki sat down next to her.

"Why are you so… repulsed by me?" he asked.

Tosh was surprised by the question. She sighed. "I guess I should know better than to listen to rumours," she began, "but you can't tell me you haven't heard the ones that have been going around about you."

"Innocent," he stated, "until proven guilty."

This stumped Tosh, for she knew very well that there was no _evidence_ that Janki had been mixed up with everything that had been going on. She was just agreeing with the majority that deep down she _knew _he was in the middle of it all. "Do you," she asked him, "tend to trust your head, or your heart?"

Stupid question. His answer was barely audible as he moved closer. "I tend to trust my heart." His lips brushed hers.

_Kiss him. He wants to be kissed. You want to be loved. You want to belong. Kiss him._

She did, briefly, and then lurched away. "I'm sorry," she cried out, though she really wasn't, "but I can't!"

"TELL ME!" he called as she began to run away. "Are you in love… with Omar Cuic?"

She stopped dead and turned to face him briefly. In a moment she had turned away again and commenced running. Janki didn't follow. A look could say a thousand words.

* * *

Janki Marvix made his way to a local pub and sat down angrily, resting his guitar on his lap. Quietly he began to pluck the strings, and gradually he attracted the attention of those around him.

_Who is to help me?_

Each member of the group that had formed around Marvix raised their right hand.

_I need only two. Men. Strong men_.

The women, and the men who were either too young, too old, or too weak, quietly lowered their hands and went back to their business. The men who remained watched Marvix playing, as though captivated.

_Has anybody here killed before?_

Every one of them lowered their hands.

_Does anybody know how to use a gun?_

Three or four of them stood up.

_All right, you two_.

Janki signalled to two of the men.

_Follow me._

The three men exited the bar and made their way to the house of the Cuics.

* * *

"Have a good time!" Omar Cuic called, waving his parents and sister out of the front door. They were going out for a meal. Omar had seen Toshiko's distress earlier and decided to wait in for her return.

He waited in the playroom and the front of the house, for an hour. It had just started to get dark when Tosh appeared, hammering on the front door. Omar opened it hastily- she had been crying.

Without thinking, he swept her into his arms, closing the front door with his foot.

"It's okay," he whispered. "It's okay."

They stood there a few moments, Tosh resting her head on Omar's shoulder while he stroked her hair.

Then they adjourned to the sitting room, and Tosh found herself lying across Omar's warm body, as they reclined on the sofa.

Her tears dried up and at that moment she could think of nothing other than what a delight it would be to stay pressed together with this man forever. He made her feel _safe_. She was in a disastrous situation, and she missed her friends back home, but when she was with Omar the pain eased slightly, and she could be herself again.

Omar shifted so that, while she was still resting on his legs, he could reach Tosh's face. With hands as soft as hers, he gently caressed her cheeks, filling her with warmth. He looked into her deep, black eyes; bright, and reflecting his own. He knew what he wanted. And in that moment, he was pretty sure he knew what she wanted, too.

They held their gaze, and Tosh ran her hands up his arms, over his biceps, and round to the back of his neck, where they reunited.

Slowly, she brought his face closer to her own, still not breaking the magical connections they had between their eyes.

Omar moved the last of the distance without her direction. She knew what she wanted. Their lips connected and all else was forgotten; Tosh's eyes snapped shut at the sudden blaze of light that seemed to be pouring through. In those precious few moments, neither Tosh nor Omar did, nor could, think of anything but each other. That want had turned into a need; that need into a want. They were each other's survival.

"You have so much power within you…" Omar whispered happily as Tosh nuzzled into his neck. "I felt something amazing. It was as if… you transferred something into me."

Tosh shushed him the only way she knew how. The second kiss was longer but sweeter.

"I'm not going to leave you," Tosh startled Omar by proclaiming this decisively. "I'm never going to leave you. They can't make me go back…"

Their next kiss was cut off by soft music and a whimper from Omar.

"But… I don't want to go outside!" he said, still breathless from the brief intimacy he had shared with Tosh. The latter cast him a baffled look. "No! No! I _won't_ come outside! I _won't_ leave Toshiko!"

His arm twitched nervously, and he made a move as if he were about to get up, but Tosh held him back. "Omar, what's going on? What're you talking about?"

"There's a voice," he said, turning to face her. He was as pale as anything, and he shook. "There's a voice… inside my head!"

_Leave the girl to me. Toshiko is mine. Come outside and you will meet your destiny. Leave the girl_.

Petrified, Tosh remembered the voices she had often heard when around Janki Marvix… and suddenly recalled the 'soft music' she had heard before Omar had spoken. She stood up with a start, directing her gaze through the window above the sofa. Janki Marvix.

Tosh ducked down quickly, horrified. "We need to get out of here!" she whispered to Omar urgently.

"No!" he replied childishly. "I don't want to go outside!"

There was a crash as the front door burst open. Tosh was trying to pull Omar to his feet when the door to the sitting room opened as well, and three men strode in.

"Boy!" Marvix cried, playing a chord on his guitar. "Come here!"

Omar stumbled to his feet, but Tosh flung an arm out to stop him moving forward. "No! Stop! You were right. I love him."

Marvix stepped forward, showing her his guitar, which had begun to glow slightly in the darkness. "Not for much longer…" he cackled evilly, and started plucking the strings.

* * *

_It was incredible, _Tosh said, continuing her story to the others. _Awful, but incredible. There was such power pouring out of that guitar. I tried to shied Omar but one of the men that Marvix was with thrust me down back onto the sofa, and the other one put a gun to Omar's head. The two men had a sort of glazed in look in their eyes. It wasn't right._

"_Agree to come with me," Marvix shouted, "or your __**boyfriend's **__had it."_

_I looked at Omar. His eyes were screwed shut. I willed him to open them, so I could say my final goodbye. I knew that whatever answer I gave, they were going to shoot Omar; and I was powerless to stop them._

"_ALL RIGHT!" I cried, still giving in to that one, last, __**desperate**__ hope. "I'll come!"_

_The monster that Marvix had pinning me down bundled me out of the house and into a car. I heard a shot. I knew Omar was dead. Marvix came out of the house and sat in the seat next to me; we drove off._

_I could barely speak or see through my dears, but I lashed out again and again at that bloody traitor, trying to hurt him just as much as he'd hurt me. I never would have managed._

_We got to an old building where he appeared to be staying._

"_What I want to know," he said softly, as if nothing at all had just happened, "is how come my guitar doesn't affect you?"_

"_I don't know how your stupid guitar works or why you think it doesn't work on me!" I cried, looking around at my captors. Somehow… __**somehow**__, he was using his guitar to control them. Suddenly, all the events- all the small, insignificant events- of the short time I had been there pulled together and made sense. Simple, horrible, sense. But I thought that maybe I could use it to my advantage._

_The next time Marvix strummed on his guitar, and I heard a whisper in my mind, __**come to me**__, I obeyed._

_Startled, Marvix looked up. "What're you doing?" he asked suspiciously._

_I tried to look as vacant as possible. "You asked me to come to you."_

_Marvix paused and then strummed a new chord. I heard a new whisper. __**Kiss me**__. I was appalled, and almost decided to give up my act there and then. He had killed Omar. All I wanted was revenge. But perhaps this was the way I would get it. I bent over and kissed him on the lips; it lasted as short as possible._

_G minor. __**Longer**__._

_I gritted my teeth and kissed him again, counting, one, two, three, four, five, and then I pulled away again. He took my hand in his._

_The hours went by slowly. I felt a shift inside me. I could feel Torchwood calling for me again. I requested a walk._

_He took me to see Jodi._

_**Tell her how happy you are with me. Tell her how you love me**__._

_I positioned myself so that Marvix couldn't see my face and said to Jodi very pointedly, and widening my eyes until she got the message, "You know, Jodi, I'm very happy with Janki. I love him so much!" I giggled. The sound sickened me. I paused, and then spoke again, raising my eyebrows. "Have you ever seen a blonde girl as happy as I?"_

_This made Marvix frown, but he couldn't work out my odd statement. Luckily, Jodi did, and she had enough sense to play along, too. "No, you're the happiest, by far! I did have a fairly happy blonde come and see me this morning, though; gave me a message for you, she did!" Marvix's ears pricked up, and Jodi threw caution to the winds. "She said she had to leave town pretty sharpish, but she reckoned you would want to go down to your favourite haunt this evening, ya see? You know, the place you go every morning? She said you might find something to your liking there."_

_Of course, Marvix made me take him there straight away. I failed to hide my eagerness as I searched around the place as normal, looking for whatever it was that I was supposed to find._

"_What's that?" Marvix asked suddenly. I whirled around._

_The floor had started to shimmer. He grabbed hold of my arm. I pulled him over to the area. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, it looked like a kind of portal. I stepped onto it recklessly, still stuck to Marvix._

_The floor seemed to collapse, and I heard Marvix scream._

_Then a familiar sensation came over my body. I could no longer hear or see anything; but I was in unbearable pain._

_When I came to, we were here, and Gwen and Elen were bending over us, trying to wake us up._

* * *

"I don't get it, Jack!" Tosh finished with a cry. "I don't get any of it!"

"Sounds to me," Jack replied, impressed, "that when I opened the Rift again to get us out of here… well, that was just the push you needed to come back!"

"Ohhh, dad, you'll never guess what!" Elen shouted excitedly. Jack noticed for the first time that she had been examining the guitar.

"What?"

"Guess what this guitar has been running on!"

"_What?_"

Elen now had everybody's attention. "It's the fire! The iFire! That's how this geezer's been controlling everyone's minds; it's the iFire! And _that_," she continued impressively, throwing the guitar back to Marvix, making everyone gasp, "is why the miserable twat can't use it here." The team watched as he desperately tried to prove her wrong. "In the parallel universe Tosh was in, the fire was obviously still 'at large', so to speak. But we've cleared it, here. It's useless. Give it up."

The team were stunned at Elen's announcement. It made sense, though!

Jack glowed, proud of his daughter. "Owen, Gwen… take this 'miserable twat', as Elen so fondly put it, down to the cells, please. We'll decide what to do with him later."

They did as they were told; though Owen grumbled the whole way down and back about not wanting to "spend another minute in that place".

Jack moved over to Tosh and held her close. She shuddered and crumpled into his arms. "How come the guitar didn't affect me, Jack?"

"I can only guess," he replied. "But the Rift is a very powerful thing, and it's my feeling that some of its power passed into you. It protected you, in a really strange way."

"And what about… what about Omar?" her voice cracked, and she wiped away her tears impatiently. "He had a sort of resistance to it, too."

"You gave him the biggest gift you could ever have given him. You had such a powerful connection with him that some of the power in you from the Rift may have passed into him; just like he said! Your love protected him, Tosh- you should be proud of that."

"Well, I didn't do enough. He's still dead," she sobbed into Jack's sleeve. He just held her, in silence.

The team gathered and sat down together, speaking very little and occasionally sipping the coffee Ianto had made them all.

Jack locked the guitar up with the other dangerous artefacts that had fallen into his possession somehow or another.

He was just walking back through to the others when Gwen came running up to him. "Jack, quick…"

He followed her quickly as she took him down to the cells where a foul stench hit his nostrils.

"We just turned on the CCTV and saw it…"

Janki Marvix was lying in a heap on the floor of his cell in a pool of blood, a small knife lying next to him.

"Damn!" Jack exclaimed. "We should have searched him."

On the wall behind him, Marvix had written his last words in his own blood.

_It was suicide._

* * *

_**Author notes: I don't have a preview this time, but I do have a request. If you have read this I would love it if, in your review- which you were obviously about to do anyway ;)- you could answer a few questions:**_

_**Basically, what did you think of the character Janki Marvix?**_

_**Was there any point in the story in which you felt sorry for Marvix?**_

_**Would you be interested at all in the back story of Marvix?; I was thinking of writing a one-shot of his POV of his relationship with Tosh etc, depending on the interest.**_

_**I also thought of a couple of alternate endings to this chapter from the POV of other characters; would you be interested in these?**_

_**What did you think of the scenes between Tosh and Omar Cuic? (haha, from an honest typo/misreading, I almost had Omar stroking Tosh's hair with his foot! Whoops…)**_

_**Any other comments about this chapter?**_

_**Thanks for your time, remember, the reader makes the writer ;)**_


	6. A Stitch In Time Saves Nine

_Author notes: many thanks to Hannah and Birthday Cake with Maple Syrup for the reviews! Cheers guys. Means a lot :)_

_This chapter was co-written by Ram; at least, he provided me with the main theme of the chapter, and I just padded it out to make it a story :) though he helped me with the technobabble as well, which I'm notquitesogood at! So if any of that is wrong or doesn't make sense, blame him :)_

_Hehe, but cheers for that, awesome idea :)_

_Also, the bit before the title is sorta narrator type speak, there's a bit of first person narrative in there and just take that as a kinda Godly personage who knows all (tee hee, me! :D)_

**Disclaimer: don't own the characters etc… do own the plotline, so don't steal it, or I will set Ram on you, and he will liquefy your brains with more technobabble horror struck grin**

_**This chapter is dedicated to… um… let me see… how about… Ram? :D**_

* * *

One end of the Rift is located in Cardiff Bay, and the other is floating freely through spacetime; though there may be other gateways as well. Occasionally lifeforms 'wash up' in Cardiff; spacetime contains all the 'flotsam and jetsam of the universe since the dawn of time'. Every so often, the Rift will 'swallow' creatures and weapons and so forth; however, the Rift is starting to get clever. It has begun to create itself a new lifeform (one that Ianto later affectionately dubbed as 'Rifters') out of the matter that was thrown at it. A piece of that Weevil, a piece of this Cyberman… taking bits of everything and anything to create a whole new foul creature.

Needless to say, there had been a lot of recent Rift activity at the Hub; and this activity attracted the Rifters. However, as Rifters are no whole being, they cannot just 'wash up' in Cardiff like other creatures do; they have to force their way in.

And so it happened that a colony of Rifters made their way to the portion of spacetime relative to Torchwood 3 Hub, and set about beating their way in.

I don't think I need to tell you that beating at spacetime in order to make a passage onto Earth has dire consequences for the relative space on the other side of the Rift; in this case, the Hub.

Imagine, if you will, these Rifters pushing so hard at the wall of their prison that they _move _the side of the Rift out onto Torchwood territory… and this portion of the Rift, before closing up, snaps around the Hub, in a sort of 'Rift bubble'.

The Torchwood team are now stuck inside this bubble, but the bubble only encloses a portion of time, so the team will just keep on going over and over this portion of time and not be aware of their predicament; leaving the Rifters to run free in the world outside.

* * *

Chapter Six: A Stitch In Time Saves Nine

Tosh sobbed into Gwen's shoulder. She was having a tough time dealing with first Omar's murder and now, though he was the guilty party in the aforementioned death, Janki's suicide. Though she had disliked Marvix in every way when he had been alive, she felt someway responsible for his death, and this was never a feeling she could get used to or accept.

She watched as Owen began the autopsy on Janki's body. It was something she felt that she had to do to finally accept what had happened to her in the last few days.

As Owen called out various observations to Jack in a monotonous voice devoid of all emotion, Tosh's mind slipped out of the present and withdrew into itself.

She bit her lip, forcing back the tears, and looked furtively at Jack. Seeing he was busy, she left Gwen watching the autopsy to view instead the guitar she had grown acquainted with in the last few days, for the last time before Jack locked it away.

Tosh had always thought that music could inspire great emotion, but this… this was something else entirely!

Not playing herself, she was content just to pluck the six strings quietly. The vibrations of the strings seemed to transfer to her, and she began to shiver. What had she been thinking of? Why on Earth did she want to touch this awful weapon again?

The awful truth was that the guitar had begun to take her in; just like the resurrection glove had taken Susie in. Tosh shivered again. She was glad that Jack was having the guitar locked away. Perhaps he had been afraid that this would happen.

Tosh stood, pacing around the Hub. She had to pull herself together. She really couldn't go on like this…

She'd often have strong moments like this, but then she would remember Omar and completely crumple. There was always, however hard she tried to forget, the lingering memories and emotions that wouldn't let go of her.

The autopsy was over. Owen had cleaned up and now walked over, peering around as if looking for something. Tosh shrank back against the desk; she had been crying again and didn't want him to see her.

But he spotted her, and it was she, it appeared, whom he had been looking for initially.

"Hey Tosh!" Owen said warmly, starting towards her, stopping short at the look on her face. "Are you… are you all right? Can I get you anything?"

Tosh wiped her face with her sleeve. "Thanks, Owen. But I'm fine."

Owen moved closer… she looked so sad… he wanted to hold her, kiss her, and tell her that everything would be all right. At the last minute he bailed out. "Oh… glad to hear… glad to hear you're good, Tosh. I'll be… uh…" he pointed over to his desk, which Tosh had long known the position of, then finished in a rush, "over there if you need me."

Tosh struggled to push her face into a small smile and Owen rushed away.

"Tosh!" Jack called, coming up behind her and pulling her into a one armed hug. "How're you feeling?"

_It would help if people stopped bothering me, _Tosh thought ungratefully. "I've been better, Jack. But I've been worse, too." A pause. "You know that."

Jack nodded, and asked tentatively, "I have a little job for you, if you're up for it?"

"All right. It would be nice to be occupied."

Jack nodded again understandingly. "We've been using the Rift a lot recently. Actually, between you and me, I'm still using it within myself to keep the Hub open…" he winked encouragingly as Tosh gasped. "Don't worry about me. The one thing I am potentially worried about, though, is Rift spikes. Could you check up on them for me? I've sort of learnt to feel when something happens in the Rift, because then it's happening inside me, too, basically. But I need some hard facts so that we can deal with it. Think you can pull up the readings?"

"Sure." Tosh lead Jack over to her desk, cluttered by some papers and a cold, barely touched coffee. She found the relevant information while Jack played idly with a pair of keys. He looked up hurriedly when he heard Tosh gasp.

"Oh my God…" he blasphemed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Guys?" he called to the rest of his team. "Come and see this."

Owen, Gwen, Elen and Ianto gathered around the screen, each one of them cursing, gasping or glancing worriedly at their companions when they saw what was on the screen.

* * *

The Rifters breathed in deeply. They had at last conquered the forces against them in the Rift, and had a world to call their own! Well, almost. They still had to take charge of the planet, but that would be child's play after what they had battled through to get here.

The first few humans that they saw were old and died of fright. The Rifters soon realised that if they were going to climb to the top in this world, they would have to disguise themselves; at least until they had a hold on the world.

They took DNA samples from the bodies around them, and tweaked them here and there until they became the people that they wanted to be.

In total, there were about 53 Rifters to begin with, and most had decided to become men. This would mean that any offspring they had would be predominantly Rifter, even though they were not originally created in the Rift.

* * *

Tosh sobbed into Gwen's shoulder. She was having a tough time dealing with the deaths of Omar and Janki; Omar because she had cared for him, and Janki simply because she felt responsible for him.

She had dealt with deaths before, but these seemed to take more of a toll on her than the others ever had. She felt like she was being stabbed again and again.

She watched as Owen began the autopsy on Janki Marvix. She had been through a lot of indecision as to whether it was the best thing to do… and decided that it was. It was the last stepping stone, and maybe it would help her get over the whole ordeal a little quicker.

"Bruises around the neckline," Owen said to Jack. He did not feel bad for the guy he was performing on. He hadn't really known the bloke but one thing he knew was that Marvix had hurt Toshiko badly, and this removed every scrap of pity. "It's as if he'd been suffocated… but the marks are faded a little, they're not new marks… Tosh? Do you know if anyone might have strangled this guy? Though God knows a few of us wanted to…" he added under his breath. He looked at Tosh expectantly, but it was obvious she hadn't heard him. He decided not to bother her.

Jack came over to examine the wounds. Out of the corner of his eye, Owen saw Tosh walk slowly off. Gwen cast worried looks over her shoulder at Tosh, but evidently decided to leave her be for the time being.

"I'll go and see how Elen's doing with those samples," Gwen supplied instead. "I don't want to get in your way."

Watching an autopsy never brought with it the best feelings in the world.

Feeling slightly sick, Gwen joined Elen in Jack's office. She found Ianto in there, too. They were pouring over sheets and sheets of graphs and other test results, and various things sealed in little bags. They didn't notice Gwen until she spoke.

"Hey guys," she smiled a little as they jumped. "What have you found? Need any help?"

"I took samples of the wood, strings and coating of the guitar," Elen announced impressively. "I'm trying to work out and manipulate the chemicals in them. Oh, I took a blood test as well!" she showed Gwen her bandaged arm. "I found traces- not large amounts, because of course and thankfully it's mostly worn off- but I found traces of the same chemicals in my blood. I've just taken samples of Ianto's blood as well, just to check… oh, and maybe I could try you as well, Gwen? You weren't affected by the iFire, were you? So just to check that the chemicals in our blood aren't from being around the guitar, or anything."

Gwen raised her eyebrows at this speech. Elen was every part her father's daughter! "Okay," she said simply in reply.

She was about to surrender her arm to Elen's prodding when they heard Jack calling.

"Oh my God!" it sounded bad. "Guys? Come and see this…"

The three downed their tools and rushed through to where Jack, Owen and Tosh were gathered around the latter's computer.

"Shit!" Gwen swore. She heard Elen gasp beside her.

The screen showed that a massive energy spike had just hit Cardiff. Right where they were standing.

* * *

As the Rifters went around, surveying their new planet, they would take samples of any animals they came across. Basically this meant that, with a little training, they could change their whole genetic make up at will. They also learnt several different human languages.

In other words, all in all, they were probably the most formidable characters Torchwood had ever faced; with one slight snag. _Torchwood_ had no idea that these creatures existed. _Torchwood _had no idea that these creatures were in their planet. _Torchwood_ had failed to realise what was happening to _them_, let alone the world outside.

* * *

Tosh sobbed into Gwen's shoulder. She was finding it harder and harder to deal with the deaths of Omar and Janki as time went on. It felt like they had died over and over again. The emotional pressure was mounting up, and Tosh wasn't sure quite how much more she could take.

She and Gwen were observing the autopsy of Janki Marvix, carried out by Owen, assisted by Jack.

Jack keenly listened to Owen's observations, but noticed that Tosh and Gwen were disinterested and didn't really want to be there. He wondered why they _were _there. It was never going to be easy.

Jack's head jerked up painfully when he heard Owen's newest observation.

"Bruises around the neckline," Owen said, a hint of surprise in his voice. "It's as if he'd been suffocated… but the marks are faded a little, they're not new marks…"

He went on to ask Tosh if she knew anything about the marks, but she didn't reply. Jack went over to take a look at them himself. There were definitely bruises… Jack placed his hand gently over the marks… it wasn't clear, but there was definitely the possibility that the bruises had been made by a hand… four long bruises on the right side of the neck, and one bigger one on the left side.

Jack turned as Gwen started to speak, and was surprised but unconcerned to see that Tosh was not there anymore. He had thought it was best she didn't watch in the first place.

"I'll go and see how Elen's doing with those samples. I don't want to get in your way."

Jack could see she was looking slightly queasy, and let her go.

He turned back to Owen and the body.

There were also scratches all over Janki's body… "This one's been through the mill a bit," Owen said matter-of-factly, chewing his lip.

Jack agreed, but asked Owen to wind things up a bit. "Is there anything to suggest that these injuries, other than the knife wound, in any way contributed to this man's death?"

"No, none. They're too old."

"Then just finish up examining the knife wound and I'll take him down to the mortuary."

Owen didn't beat around the bush, finishing the examination quickly and then helping Jack to put the body into a body bag.

Jack wheeled the body down to the mortuary. He added Janki's body to the rest, feeling no emotion… apart from perhaps a little jealousy. He had lost count of the number of people falling around him, and the number of times he had wished to be among them.

He entered the date and Janki Marvix's details into the mortuary log book and went to wash death off his hands.

Every time, it seemed to taint him. He hated it. Well, who wouldn't? Somehow, he didn't want to think of the answer to that question, as he was sure there would be one.

As he was drying his hands off, he felt a twinge in his stomach.

No, more than a twinge! Something seemed to be pushing and pulling at his insides! It felt like the Rift. He'd had it inside himself all this time; this fact, and his own strength, were the only things keeping the Hub open, and possibly the only things keeping it standing.

He had grown fond of the Torchwood 3 base. He didn't want to lose it, at any cost, but the risk got greater every day.

He was worried about his 'gut feelings' about the Rift. Quietly he whispered the joke to himself and enjoyed a smile for the first time in a while. He would get Tosh on it.

Quickly he made his way into the main body of the Hub, in time to see Owen retreating.

Tosh was standing in between Jack and Owen, with her back to Jack.

"Tosh!" he called hooking his left arm around her waist from behind. "How're you feeling?"

Tosh sighed. "I've been better, Jack. But I've been worse, too. You know that."

Jack knew that. He thought back to when they had first met, and nodded. He needed to help this woman. "I have a little job for you… if you're up for it?" he asked tentatively.

"All right. It would be nice to be occupied."

Jack nodded. "We've been using the Rift a lot recently. Actually, between you and me, I'm still using it within myself to keep the Hub open…" he winked encouragingly as Tosh gasped, holding back a laugh. "Don't worry about me! The one thing I'm potentially worried about, though, is Rift spikes. Could you check up on them for me? I've sort of learnt to feel when something happens in the Rift, because then it's happening inside me, too, basically. But I need some hard facts so that we can deal with it. Think you can pull up the readings?"

"Sure."

Jack followed Tosh to her desk. He picked up her keys idly, twisting them around his fingers while she pulled up the data they needed. He heard her gasp, and, for the second time that day, jerked his head up painfully.

"Oh my God!" he rubbed a hand over his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing! The others would need to know. "Guys? Come and see this."

The four others came over to the desk, reacting with varying degrees of severity; all of them negative. This energy spike was like nothing they had ever seen before!

* * *

Six Rifters broke off from the main group, under orders. There had been a fight for leadership between a few of the 'males'. There were now 48 Rifters.

The sub group had been order to go and check out the Torchwood Hub; to check that all was secure.

They had returned with trepidation, and the fear that came with the basic human instinct they had earned.

After watching the Hub for an hour and seeing no movement, they decided to get closer.

They couldn't. The Rift bubble had worked to its fullest extent. No one could get in, and _no one could get out_.

* * *

Elen had opted out of watching the autopsy. She was surprised that Gwen and Tosh were, actually; especially Tosh! Instead she went back to study the samples of the guitar and her own blood that she had taken.

She collected up all the results and samples and adjourned to her father's office. There she could lay everything out and study it in depth.

As she bent down to pick a fallen paper, the office door banged open.

"Hey Jack," a sultry voice floated into the room. "You… uh… busy?"

Elen stood up so fast that she whacked her head on the underside of the table with almighty crack. Blushing, and biting her lip with pain, she observed Ianto through her watery eyes.

Ianto, it was fair to say, was slightly redder in the face than she was.

"Elen! I'm sorry… I thought you were-"

"-my father. Yeah, I got that." She covered her glowing face with her hands, and murmured, "It was kind of obvious when you called me Jack."

Ianto chuckled, though you could cut the tension with the knife.

"What were-" Elen started, and then thought better of it. "Never mind. Want to… er… help me with this testing?"

"Um, yeah, all right, what're you doing?"

Quickly Elen explained all the tests she had done, and the tension eased slightly- slightly. Ianto was impressed at the work Elen had done.

"Do you think I could take a small sample of your blood, too? Of course, the testing on mine is all very exciting, but it doesn't give an accurate enough picture yet. It won't hurt!"

"Go for it!" Ianto replied enthusiastically, taking a slight wound to his pride at her last comment.

They began to get completely absorbed in the work they were doing, and time flew. Elen was ecstatic to find that Ianto also had traces of the chemicals in his blood, and Ianto was ecstatic to have contributed to her research. They were both pouring over the new data when a voice started them out of their thoughts.

"Hey guys!"

Elen and Ianto almost jumped out of their skins; they had not heard company arrive! They whirled round and saw Gwen laughing at them.

"What have you found?" she asked. "Need any help?"

Elen described her work proudly, finishing with the discovery of the chemicals in their blood. "I found traces- not large amounts, because of course and thankfully it's mostly worn off- but I found traces of the same chemicals in my blood. I've just taken samples of Ianto's blood as well, just to check… oh, and maybe I could try you as well, Gwen? You weren't affected by the iFire, were you? So just to check that the chemicals in our blood aren't from being around the guitar, or anything."

Gwen raised her eyebrows and laughed at Elen's babbling. Elen grinned, her eyes twinkling, waiting for a response.

"Okay," she replied, smiling again as Elen jumped up straight away, rushing to collect the equipment. She was an eager girl!

They were just getting ready when they heard Jack calling from the main area of the Hub.

"Guys! Come and see this…"

They all rushed off in the direction of Jack's voice. He was standing next to Tosh's computer with her and Owen.

Elen gasped and exchanged worried looks with Ianto. Gwen swore under her breath.

There was no simple explanation, no obvious affects, but there was also no doubt that they had just been at the centre of a massive energy spike in the Rift.

* * *

Tosh sobbed into Gwen's shoulder as they watched Janki's autopsy. The pain this time- _this time?!_ she thought, confused- was unbearable. No, really. It was literally unbearable for her to take.

She collapsed.

Time froze.

The only thing that moved in those few moments were the cogs in Toshiko's brain; and boy, did they move.

Nothing like this ever having happened before, the Rifters hadn't been counting on one thing.

And that was, in extreme levels of high emotion and stress, it would sometimes be possible for the mind undergoing these emotions to break out of the loop.

Tosh's mind… was out of the bubble. But her body was still within it, as were the bodies and minds of her friends and co-workers. And it was up to her to break them out, too.

Time unfroze.

Tosh stood up and the loop continued as normal. Owen and Jack continued with the autopsy, but this time Tosh's mind was sharp and in focus.

"Tosh? Do you know if anyone might have strangled this guy? Though God knows a few of us wanted to…" Owen asked, and this time Tosh replied.

"No. I don't know of anything."

She had thought that by changing the sequence of the loop, she could break the others out, too, but Owen carried on as if he hadn't heard her.

Tosh left the others around the body and went to the guitar. She was still drawn to it, no matter how badly her mind screamed for her to change the scene. She needed to provide the team with a big enough shock to draw them out.

"Hey Tosh!" Owen called, and she swung round. "Are you… are you all right? Can I get you anything?"

Tosh struggled to reply differently, but couldn't. "Thanks, Owen. But I'm fine."

Owen moved closer, passion burning in his eyes. The moment left them. "Oh… glad to hear… glad to hear you're good, Tosh. I'll be… uh… over there if you need me."

Tosh smiled, _again_, and Owen rushed away.

"Tosh!" Jack called, coming up behind her and pulling her into a one armed hug; this time Tosh was ready for it and didn't jump. "How're you feeling?"

"I've been better, Jack. But I've been worse, too." Another pause. This time, though, it was because she had had an idea. "You know that."

Jack nodded, and asked tentatively, "I have a little job for you, if you're up for it?"

"All right. It would be nice to be occupied." Tosh's mind smiled inside; this had better work!

Jack nodded again understandingly, and Tosh got ready for the big long speech that followed. "We've been using the Rift a lot recently. Actually, between you and me, I'm still using it within myself to keep the Hub open…" he winked encouragingly as Tosh gasped, totally unsurprised, but going with the flow. "Don't worry about me. The one thing I am potentially worried about, though, is Rift spikes. Could you check up on them for me? I've sort of learnt to feel when something happens in the Rift, because then it's happening inside me, too, basically. But I need some hard facts so that we can deal with it. Think you can pull up the readings?"

"Sure." They went over to Tosh's desk, and this was where she pulled out her ace. Playing along, she gasped, and Jack looked up quickly.

"Oh my God…" he blasphemed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Guys?" he called to the rest of his team. "Come and see this."

Owen, Gwen, Elen and Ianto gathered around the screen, each one of them cursing, gasping or glancing worriedly at their companions when they saw what was on the screen.

"What on Earth _is _that?!" Owen broke out, and Tosh grinned; that had not happened before!

What the team were watching on her screen was CCTV of them. The confusing thing, however, was that, to them, it hadn't happened yet. None of them had any recollection of doing what the screen showed they were doing; but there was no doubt it was real.

"Tosh, what's going on?!" Jack asked quickly.

Tosh knew she had only limited scope to reply as they were still not properly broken out of the loop yet. She decided to keep her explanation short and simple.

"Well, at first I thought I could use a recalibrated hyperbolic calabi-yau isolation cannon to repair the fabric of space time, utilising the energy of the Rift… there's been a big whole torn in its side, and it's wrapped us up! We're in a bubble!"

"So not only is the Rift inside me, but I'm inside the Rift… interesting…" Jack supplied under his breath. Tosh ignored him.

"I soon realised that the logistics of the recalibrated hyperbolic calabi-yau isolation cannon were impossible, and I hadn't nearly enough time to sort it all out! Then I thought, well, what about the dimension matrix manipulating fractal driver? Surely that would work! And I still think it would, but who knows what could be happening out on Earth right now, and this might take too long to sort out, and it would be incredibly tricky!"

As she paused to draw breath, Gwen broke in, frustrated. "Tosh… _what are you talking about? What's happening to us?"_

"Okay, let's go back to basics… string theory says that every particle is like a string vibrating at a different frequency. Tosh particles, Gwen particles, Owen particles… particles. And, for this to be true, there are a _minimum_ of _ten dimensions_. Four of these we experience every day; three special and one with time. But we don't feel the effects of the other dimensions because they've undergone compactification." She rolled her eyes at the confused looks everyone was giving her. "Compactification! They're all tightly wound together!" she explained; as if that was the only thing they hadn't understood. "So there are the calabi-yau manifolds. Now, this braiding must have come undone… there would have to be some outside force acting for this to happen, probably from inside the Rift. They unbraided the side of the Rift, basically, Jack- which is a fearsome skill- and wrapped it around us, then braided it together again. As a result of this, we're now trapped in this Rift bubble, and we're replaying time over and over again, because there's only a tiny portion of time available to us."

"So how do we exist in the outside world that has 'all the time in the world' so to speak?"

"We don't. As far as the outside world is concerned, we don't exist."

"Just what you always wanted, Jack…" Owen joked ironically, adding "Tosh? Do you mind explaining- and, in English, please- just how we get out of this sticky, sticky mess?"

"Somebody has to physically break out of the bubble, then we all will. We're all currently out of the bubble mentally, but in a moment we'll go back to the beginning and start over again. The best way to break out physically is by attempting to do something that we thought about doing in the original stretch of time. For example, if the loop stretched back far enough- which it doesn't- I could choose not to watch the… autopsy… because I was debating over whether or not to do it. And if I didn't it would break us out the loop. It's similar to the dimension matrix manipulating fractal driver in theory, but involves less time and more physical and mental strength, and courage. Good luck, everybody…"

* * *

Tosh sobbed into Gwen's shoulder. Back at the autopsy. The scene seemed that much more tedious now that the team new what was going on.

"Bruises around the neckline," Owen said, the surprise that had once, or twice, or many times been in his voice, long gone. "It's as if he'd been suffocated… but the marks are faded a little, they're not new marks…"

He went on to ask Tosh if she knew anything about the marks, but she didn't reply. Jack went over to take a look at them himself. There were definitely bruises… Jack placed his hand gently over the marks… it wasn't clear, but there was definitely the possibility that the bruises had been made by a hand… four long bruises on the right side of the neck, and one bigger one on the left side.

Jack turned as Gwen started to speak, and saw without surprise that Tosh had gone.

"I'll go and see how Elen's doing with those samples. I don't want to get in your way."

Once more, Jack let her go, and then turned back to Owen and the body.

There were also scratches all over Janki's body… "This one's been through the mill a bit," Owen said matter-of-factly, chewing his lip.

Jack agreed, but asked Owen to wind things up a bit. "Is there anything to suggest that these injuries, other than the knife wound, in any way contributed to this man's death?"

"No, none. They're too old."

"Then just finish up examining the knife wound and I'll take him down to the mortuary."

Owen didn't beat around the bush, finishing the examination quickly and then helping Jack to put the body into a body bag.

The autopsy was over. Owen cleaned up and now walked over, to find Tosh. He knew what he had to do.

"Hey Tosh!" Owen said warmly, starting towards her, stopping short at the look on her face. "Are you… are you all right? Can I get you anything?"

Tosh wiped her face with her sleeve. "Thanks, Owen. But I'm fine."

Owen moved closer… she looked so sad… he wanted to hold her, kiss her, and tell her that everything would be all right. And this time? This time, he did.

He pulled her into a hug, holding her close, and then bent down and kissed her tenderly on the lips. His tongue lashed hers and they stayed for a moment in this blissful scene.

Time had frozen. This was all to do with the time bubble, but had it not been there, it would have felt frozen anyway, for that's what people tend to experience when they find love in another's arms for the first time. Well. Arms, or mouths.

They pulled apart, Tosh keeping her eyes closed. "It's going to be okay, Tosh!" Owen stated calmly. "Everything's going to be all right!" He smiled encouragingly.

Tosh opened her eyes and spoke. "Well done, Owen!" she smiled, "This is the way out! You have to… urm… follow the train of thought you're now on. Hopefully this will mean that the fabric of time and space will repair itself, so any damage that was done in the outside world by creatures from the Rift would never have actually happened! I love you, Owen… you're so-"

Owen could stand to hear her no more. She had told him to follow his train of thought, and he'd be damned if he'd let her stop him by talking. He kissed her again, slow and sweet, without all the passion that made him Owen… but that didn't remove the fact that he was a great kisser. He, himself, was melting inside from the closeness that he had found himself in to this beautiful lady.

He grinned inwardly. If he had just kissed her that first time! Then he could have relived the moment, again, and again, and again.

As it was, he could feel her pulling away from him, and knew that she wouldn't let the intimacy last.

The rest of time unfroze and Jack called to them urgently. "Don't stop! You're breaking through! You've got to carry on!"

This kiss was more passionate, more like Owen, and he felt a burning desire that he could not fulfil with only kisses.

"Plus," Owen barely heard Jack add this final testament, "it's kinda kinky, watching you two kissing."


	7. All Roads Lead To Wales

_Author notes: thanks to babytrash for reviewing. The story behind this chapter is Elen's namesake. Welsh legend; had to use it somewhere :) please read and review. After this, there'll either be one or two more chapters. That's it! :O_

_Slightly shorter chapter this time; another one that was hard to get through. I hope you enjoy it, anyway; any constructive criticism will be more than welcome._

**Disclaimer: usual yammer. BBC, not me. Plotline mine, steal it and I will set a weird apparition thing on you. :)**

_**This chapter is dedicated to Marisa. Yes, another one. Marisa, keep reading, and you'll discover why rather quickly! :D I think you'll enjoy it ;)**_

* * *

As days at Torchwood went, this was a pretty relaxing one. Which was surprising, given the recent events.

As a result of Owen and Toshiko's combined effort to break the team out of the time lock they were in, the Rifters never got to break through. Because the only reason Torchwood had been in a bubble in the first place was _so_ that the Rifters could break through. No bubble; no hole in the fabric of space time; no Rifters.

Who ever thought one kiss could mean so much?

The team were all in the Hub, but there was nothing that they had to look into. Jack had been out and back again on his own to catch what turned out to be a baby Weevil- a new occurrence. They kept it in for observation. Tosh joked that it looked like a cross between Owen, and Golem from 'Lord of the Rings'. They all laughed- including Owen! He had been in a fine mood recently, and no one had doubts as to why. "Sticks and stones," he said sarcastically, poking his tongue out at Tosh.

Now they were all sitting down doing their own thing. Gwen and Tosh were having a one-on-one girly chat, while Elen sat on a chair nearby, dreaming. Owen seemed prepared to get on with everyone today- including Ianto. They sat at a computer, playing online chess (of all things! Owen really could be talked into anything in this mood). Needles to say, Ianto was completely thrashing him… not that Owen's competitive nature didn't fight for him.

Inspired by the boys and old memories, Jack sat nearby, carving little chess pieces out of random bits of wood. "You know my favourite part of chess?" he chuckled, his eyes twinkling. "The pawn."

Elen chucked a pillow at her father while Owen and Ianto chuckled appreciatively, and Gwen and Tosh groaned and rolled their eyes. Typical Jack.

The laughter and games stopped abruptly when they heard the sound of footsteps from the front entrance to the Hub.

Jack quickly did a head count. "Then we have a visitor…" he said, deducing it was no one invited. Owen got up to take out his gun, but Jack held up his hand. "Wait. Act normal. Carry on what you were doing. We'll see." But nevertheless, Jack's hand tightened over his gun in his coat pocket.

In walked a stunning young man, dressed impeccably, and looking… well, confused. He definitely seemed human, and all the team would have agreed there was nothing wrong with him, and he didn't appear to be a danger… apart from the slightly blue glow around him, and a look as if he had faded a little, as though he wasn't sure whether or not he was there.

He spotted Elen and immediately knelt at her feet, gazing at her with eyes that sparkles and shone with wonder.

"You are beautiful," he murmured.

Elen blushed, and glanced curiously at her father. "Please, sit down," she said eventually, deciding the boy was harmless, for now, at least. "Tell me your name."

"Max. So, so beautiful…"

"And what are you?" she felt rude, asking such a blunt question, but she had to be blunt. "Where do you come from?"

"What do you mean, what am I?" Max furrowed his brow. "I'm a person! And I'm from Rome. Where am I? I came here in a dream…"

Jack stood up, striding over to get a better a look at Max. "You're in Wales, Max. You say you came in a dream? How did you get here?"

"The rivers, the roads. I just followed them. Through blinding light and terrible darkness. I just kept on flying. When I arrived I saw… what's your name?"

Elen blushed again, and told him.

"When I arrived I saw Elen and I knew she was the one I'd been brought here to see. She's a princess!"

Jack cracked a smile with pride. "She is. Why did you come here? Were you sent?"

"No… I don't know… I suppose I could have been… I was hunting! I was out hunting. I dropped off. I was sure that I dropped off, but you all look so real! So I can't be asleep, can I?" he sighed. "Can I?"

"I'm afraid you can," Jack replied slowly, stroking his chin. He looked at the love already blooming in his daughter's eyes as reached out to cup Max's face with her hands. "If you want him to stay, I wouldn't touch him! I think it would cause him to 'wake up', and if this is a dream to him, as I'm beginning to think it is, then he would disappear. Give me a moment to work out what to do…" he strode over to his desk, making little notes on a piece of paper.

The rest of the team looked at each other in silence and disbelief. Elen could look only at Max.

"I want to kiss you, Elen!" Max whispered.

"You heard what my dad said! You'll wake up if we touch…"

"You know what; I'm willing to take the chance. I'll find you, Elen. I promise I'll find you again. But if I can't kiss you now, I don't know what I'll do."

Elen still looked uneasy, and Max put his hands on her arms to reassure her.

* * *

Chapter Seven: All Roads Lead To Wales

Max awoke with a start, and looked around quickly, groaning. Where was his Elen? His beautiful Elen! Why had he left her? They hadn't even kissed!

His hunting party looked at him in concern. He was very highly regarded among his fellows. "Max, are you all right?"

He screwed up his eyes and held down a shiver. "Yeah, I'm… I'm all right. I just dropped off. I…" he dashed his hand against a rock in frustration, cutting it open. His friends were surprised when he started to cry- perhaps he'd hit his hand harder than it looked! No one knew the turmoil going on inside him. He'd had a glimpse- one tiny glimpse- of perfection, and then he'd been made to give it all up.

He hadn't really had time to get to grips with where he was or what had happened before he was pulled unceremoniously out of the dream to land on his ass in the midst of a stupid hunt that he didn't care about anyway. The dream- he was certain that it was a dream, then?

He absently let a concerned friend bandage his hand, and then stood, brushing the dried mud and fallen leaves off his clothes.

"Take my horse," he ordered an underling, "I'm going for a walk."

Certainly the underling was not going to complain; the offering of Max's horse was too great to refuse!

After waving aside questions and stares from his friends, colleagues, and associates, Max headed off in the opposite direction from the hunting party. He walked. And walked. And walked and walked and walked.

He walked far, and slowly, so it took him a long time before he got back to the manor he was staying in. It was already dark. The hunting party had not returned; they had probably stopped off for a drink or two on the way back. He was alone, and would be left that way; and that was what he wanted.

He took to his room, closing the door securely behind him and turning the key in the lock, which he left there. He sat on the edge of his bed tersely, rubbing his eyes fiercely with his fists. It was absurd. He had met a girl for a few moments in a dream, and already he pined over her so much that he could barely function.

A knock at his door, and a call. He pretended to be asleep.

In actual fact, he stayed awake all night, and didn't go downstairs for breakfast in the morning.

Again, when there came knocking at his door, he pretended to be asleep; he kept up the charade for a time, but by lunchtime his friends had no doubt that he couldn't have been sleeping still.

George Weller banged on his door and shouted. "MAX? Are you all right? Please answer me."

"I'm fine…" a feeble voice croaked, from the other side of the door.

"Max! Come out _right _now! Please? You haven't eaten in ages; no wonder you're weak. It doesn't sound like you've slept much, either. No matter what you say!"

"I'm not coming out," Max replied stubbornly. His friend sighed.

"I knew you'd say that. But Max… if you won't come out, we're coming in."

"You can't do that!"

"Whatever it takes."

A pause, and then the sound of a key turning slowly in the lock. George opened the door immediately, and took in Max's limp, dirty, and dishevelled appearance- and this after only a day?

"There, are you happy now?" Max said fiercely, turning to hobble back to his bed.

George caught his arm. "No, I am not happy, Mr Musemper. My best friend has gone quite mad and is sending himself to an early grave! Max, _get a grip on yourself, for God's sake! _"

Mac let out a small sob, and let slip in a whisper, "_But she was so beautiful…_"

"Max," George sighed, worried for his friend, "is this over a girl?"

Disheartened by his tone of voice and disbelieving nature (though Max had noticed that George Weller had never seemed to take an interest in a woman, in all the time they had known each other), Max stubbornly pulled his arm away, muttering angrily, "You don't know what it is to love someone, and how it hurts when you can't have then!"

"Why can't you have this one?"

"I don't know where she _is_, damnit!"

"Then," George replied triumphantly, determined to buoy up his long term buddy, "we shall send our workers out to search, and not stop until they find this girl!"

Max suddenly seemed to chirp up. "Yeah," he smiled, "I'll send people to look for my princess!"

Max was a very successful man in his life and trade, and many men respected, worked for, and even admitted him. He had everything he could ever possibly want… except for Elen. He sent out some of his most trusted servants to find his route to Elen.

* * *

After one hour, his first servant returned. Max looked up, hopeful. He still had neither slept nor consumed anything. "I've been searching for an hour," he said abruptly, "and I've found no rivers anything like the ones that you described from your dream." Max snarled and the servant backed out of the room.

Another hour passed before the second servant returned. Max dubiously turned an inquisitive ear to his inferior. "Well?"

"I searched for two hours. I found no roads anything like the ones you described from your dreams. I'm sorry."

Max slammed his fist onto the table, and the servant removed himself quietly.

A whole more excruciating hour followed, and finally the third servant returned. "He has been searching good and long," Max smiled, picked up a piece of bread- at last, something to eat!- in celebration. "He will bring the good news. He will have found my Elen!"

"Sir," the third servant said tiredly, entering the room, "I'm sorry I'm so later. I've searched for three hours. I looked at all the castles and mansions and big buildings and everything you told me to look at. There was no sign of _anything _like what you described from that dream, sire. Sir?"

The celebratory piece of bread stopped half way to Max's mouth, and was instead flung at third servant, who he had had so much faith in. The bread bounced off the door as the servant closed it. "Damn them!" Max cried, tears streaking down his face. "Damn them all! They've failed me!"

"If I may be so bold as to suggest something? … _Sir?_" the last word was added deliberately and tauntingly, and did the trick of catching Max's attention.

"What?" he asked, scowling.

"Why don't you go out and find this girl-"

"-Elen-"

"-find Elen _yourself _?"

Max pondered the question seriously, as though he had never thought of it himself. "All right!" he said amiably, surprising George a great deal. "… what do I do?"

George rolled his eyes. "Let's go to the Wiccan."

* * *

"I am looking for a girl called Elen."

"Elen?"

"Yes."

"I'm afraid I'm going to need more information than that, Mr Musemper."

"Well… she's very beautiful? Does that help?"

The Wiccan rolled her eyes. "Does she have a _surname_, by any chance?"

Max thought for a second. "I don't know."

"Mr Musemper, I-"

"Wait! Let me think…" Max remembered seeing the name label 'Captain Jack Harkness' somewhere near Elen… Captain… that had to be the man he had spoken to, surely? And he had been Elen's father! Max was not sure whether either father or daughter had said anything to confirm this, but there had been a great likeness between the two, there was no doubt. "Harkness. Her surname was- is- Harkness."

"Are you sure?"

"Almost positive."

"Excuse me." The Wiccan got up and walked into a back room. Max heard her humming. A few minutes later she returned, surprise playing on her face. "Your Elen… there is no Elen Harkness on this planet."

Max screwed up his eyes in frustration. HE must have got the name wrong after all!

"However," the Wiccan went on, and Max's head jerked back up. "Have you heard of a planet called Earth?"

He gave a curt nod.

"She lives there. I don't know how you got there, previously; though there is a strong link between our planet and a city they have in a country they call Italy."

"She said she was in Wales."

"_Now_ you tell me!" the Wiccan snarled, glaring at Max.

"Look, I didn't come here to find out the name of the country in which she lives! I came to find out how to get back there!"

"_That_," the Wiccan replied heatedly, "I can't help you with. Go and see Rolf Snider."

Max sighed. He, too, was angry. He hated Snider's guts. The feeling was mutual.

But he wanted to see Elen again so badly that he would do anything.

He got up to leave the Wiccan when a shout from her turned him round. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To see Rolf Snider, as you suggested," Max replied, startled.

"Without paying me first?"

Disgustedly, Max threw a gold coin onto his vacated chair, and left the room.

* * *

Rolf Snider and Max Musemper stood opposite each other, each trying to stare the other out. They spoke with barely concealed loathing.

"Mr. Snider," Max greeted him, giving a curt nod.

"Mr. Musemper," Rolf replied, narrowing his eyes and returning the nod.

"I've come to ask a favour."

"Oh?" delight danced in Snider's eyes; a favour? Maybe he could twist this.

"Yes. I… er… you've heard of the planet Earth, I daresay?"

"Did nobody ever warn you that if you want something, patronising the person who can help you is not the way to get it?" Rolf sneered.

Max bit back his dislike and muttered a hasty apology. "I need a way to get there. No questions asked."

Rolf's eyes flew open; instead of hatred, he was suddenly filled with a burning curiosity. "Where on Earth do you wish to go?"

"You mean, you can get me there??" Max asked excitedly.

Rolf narrowed his eyes. "Where. Do. You. Want. To. Go?"

"Umm… Wales? Is that right? I think so."

"Cardiff?"

"No, Wales, please," Max laughed, wondering how Rolf had misheard him so greatly.

Rolf rolled his eyes. "Can you give me any more information about the place?"

Max noted that he was being unusually compliant, and quickly described the building he had arrived in, accidentally mentioning Elen in his description.

"Well, well. Torchwood it is." A light sparkled in Snider's eye.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing that concerns you," he added hastily.

Max shrugged. "So… how much do I owe you?"

"You know what, Musemper? I am inclined to do this for you for free."

"What?!" Max choked. "I mean… well, thanks, I guess."

"But."

"Oh."

"I'll give you seven hours. If you do not return in that time, I will be taken over your household, all your businesses, all of your workers. I want you to sign this contract here." He was very blunt about it.

Max eyed the contract- that Snider had just drawn up- suspiciously. "What if you've tricked me and I find myself unable to return?"

"Then you'll still have what you want, won't you? The girl. Don't suppose you can bring her back here; you can't."

Max sighed, reading through the contract again carefully. Snider was right; for once. And Max was desperate.

He signed.

* * *

Max had been given a pill to take that would take him back to Elen in a dream just like the first one. After having seen the Wiccan again, and having her approve it as nothing dangerous, Max went back to his home, psyching himself up as best he could.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" George had sat with him for the last hour, advising and guiding his friend.

Max nodded. "Stay with me for the first five minutes or so after I take the pill? And check on me half an hour later… apart from that, I want to be left alone. Don't let anybody come in and see me."

"Okay. What will happen to your body then, while you're in the dream?"

"I'm not sure. I better take the pill lying on the bed, then…"

It was a strange sensation for George, watching his friend lie down on the bed before him, close his eyes for courage, and slip the small pill into his mouth.

He gulped it down, and then lay quite still.

George rushed over, scared stiff.

He fought to find Max's pulse, but his sweaty hands were shaking and he couldn't feel it.

A slow tear slid down his cheek. What to do?

Max jerked and George almost jumped out of his skin; and in earnest, Max began to snore.

* * *

Elen looked up, startled.

This time Max had appeared right before them, instead of entering through the front entrance as he had done last time.

"I came back."

Elen ran to give him a hug, but her father intercepted it. "Remember what happened last time?" he said softly.

Morose, Elen went back to her seat. "The dream world's not the same, is it?" she said simply to Max, resenting that they could not touch. She knew it wasn't his fault, and gulped back her frustration.

Max shook his head sadly. "Elen," he whispered, coming closer but ensuring that they did not touch, "how are we going to fix this? I only have seven hours, Elen… I struck a deal with my worst enemy, I must be mental…"

"But you came back…" Elen smiled proudly, helping Max to remember just what he had gone mental for.

"Your smile is beautiful!" he whispered.

"What're we gonna do?"

"Work out a way I can stay, is all."

"And we have seven hours?"

"Yup…"

Elen checked her watch. 12:17. "Right. Come with me."

* * *

"What's the time?"

"Thirteen minutes past seven."

Elen sighed. "Okay. Good luck. Let's hope this works…"

She looked swiftly around, and then stepped forward, reaching up. She kissed Max softly on his cheek, shuddering when all she felt was cold air. Max had gone.

But this time, he'd be able to get back a lot easier; maybe even physically.

Elen picked up the obscure contraption that she and Max had been working on for the last 7 hours and activated it, drawing it in a large arc over the room that she was in.

She shoved the contraption into a drawer as her father arrived. "He's gone back," she said simply, trying to force down the smile that wanted to break free and play on her lips.

* * *

Rolf Snider was waiting for him.

"A bit late, aren't we?"

"How did you get into my room?! I told George not to let anybody near!"

"I'm afraid he was powerless to stop me. You're too late, Musemper. I've taken your house, all your possessions, all your workers. Now… get out of my house!" Snider gloated. "I've been patient enough to let you stay here until you regained consciousness. But I'm afraid that if you do not move at once, I will have to throw you out."

Max lunged at him, grabbing the contract he had signed that Snider had just got out of his pocket, and throwing it into the fire.

Snider laughed. "You really think that that was my only copy?"

Next thing he knew, Max was no longer lunging for paper but for flesh.

They grappled for a while in an immature fashion, until Max's band around his wrist- which Rolf had noticed he hadn't been wearing when he had left- came into contact with the side of Rolf's head and sparked.

Rolf screamed; and Max could remove the malfunctioning band from neither his wrist nor his opponent's face.

Max was surprised and sickened to see that the band was actually killing his rival… Rolf shook involuntarily; and he could barely see through the pain. In his last act of life, he jerked his head so that it came in contact with Max's… and all at once Max understood the bizarre death that had been happening before his eyes. The pain was immense.

It built up and up, and he prayed for nothing but release. He saw a blurred figure enter the room at high speed, and in his dying moments, recognised it as George, tears running down his cheeks as he tried, in vain, to help.

In the end, both Max and Rolf were conquered, not by each other, but by a contraption that was alien to them, and never should have appeared in their world.

* * *

Several hours later, Elen sat crying on the sofa. Gwen stroked her hair. "Don't worry darling… I'm sure he just hasn't found a way back yet."

The deception, as well as the fact that Max hadn't returned, was killing Elen, and she decided she had to confess. She turned wide, tearful eyes to Gwen in fear. "I opened a passage way behind him, using the Rift… it was bad, Gwen, but I did it, and he would be back by now! Why isn't he coming? Doesn't he love me anymore? What if something's happened to him!"

"Perhaps the passage way didn't work properly…" Gwen supplied, surprised that Elen had done such a think without consulting the others first.

A new voice joined the conversation. "No, I checked it out, she did a good job. Shame you didn't ask permission, Elen." It was Jack. Never missed a trick, that old boy. He was disappointed in his daughter.

Elen heaved a great sob and ran off to be alone. Not only had her misdemeanours been caught out, but her father had just assured her that Max was either hurt, or just didn't want her.

Gwen glared at her boss. "You could have consoled her!"

Jack frowned back. "She did a bad thing, Gwen. She knew if she had asked first I never would have let her open the passage; so she just went right ahead and did it. After all the trouble we've been having with the Rift lately, I would've thought she'd known better."


	8. Epilogue: Remember Never To Forget

_Author notes: so, it's the last one. And for some reason it's especially short. I don't know. It just turned out this way. I'm tired. Meh. This was never how it was going to end, but I much prefer this ending and I hope you like it to. If you do, or just want to see what else I can do, then please add me to your author alerts or drop me your email so I can keep you updating with what's happening! This may be the end to this particular Torchwood story but there will be more related and unrelated stories to come. Thanks to everyone's who has supported and reviewed; thanks to Marisa and Ram for your help with the story lines etc, and thanks to kav and gwencooper who have made my review count that little bit higher! Hope to see you all in the near few future on some of my other fics,_

_Yours,_

_touched-but-unbroken_

**Disclaimer: this is not, and never has been, my own idea. I thank the BBC and selected writers whole heartedly for giving me this new lease to bounce creativity from. As ever, the general gist of the plotline belongs to me.**

_**This chapter is not dedicated to anyone in particular. In fact, I shall dedicate it to YOU. Whoever you are. If you are reading this, then you are worth having a chapter dedicated to you (even more so if you review ;))**_

* * *

Jack sighed. "Listen. Prime Minister," he'd been through this at least three times already. "We don't need you to _do_ anything. Torchwood has this all under control. Trust me!"

"I've only just met you."

"Trust me," Jack sighed again. This Prime Minister was more exhausting than the last one- and that was saying something. "_We have it under control_. We just need you to sit back and keep people in check, enforce certain rules, etc…"

At length, and after many assurances, Jack managed to strike a deal with the PM. In his time on the job, he'd only had to deal with the government a few times. It had never been pretty.

* * *

The next morning, Jack sat casually at his desk looking over some figures, when the rest of the team walked in together, babbling to each other. They stopped dead when they saw Jack.

He grinned at them. "I think I really got through to this Prime Minister!"

"Yuhuh…" Owen agreed, raising his eyebrows and a newspaper. "You really did."

Jack blanched and beckoned for the paper. Owen handed it to him slowly.

"Prime Minister Hospitalised After Declaring War On Aliens…" Jack read aloud, wondering whether to laugh or cry. "Will they ever learn!? They're not going to like this… turn on the TV?"

Ianto did so, flicking to a news channel.

"-seems that maybe the PM had some reason to be concerned," the news reporter joked, finishing her sentence, making Jack frown. "We'll keep you updated."

The camera cut back to the studio. "Once again, if you've just joined us, a giant blue star has risen in Trafalgar Square. Authorities are as yet unsure where it came from or what it is made from; it may or may not be dangerous. We are waiting for more news on this story."

Jack swore and turned away from the screen. Ianto walked forward slightly. "What is it? What do we do?"

"Say your prayers, kids. Say your prayers."

* * *

Chapter Eight: Epilogue: Remember Never To Forget

"Jack…?" Gwen said questioningly, and he sighed. He could never argue with that tone of voice. "What's going on? _Tell _me. Tell _us_." Jack did his best to block out the sound of her voice but failed miserably. "Jack! This is something big, something huge, I can tell from your face; I think we all can… _what is going on_?"

"Give me some words to describe the Earth," Jack sighed.

"Dirty," Owen piped up, making Jack smile slightly, despite his evident worry.

"No, something else."

"Doomed? By the sounds of things."

"Owen, stop being so morbid! Think of good words to describe the Earth, your planet, of what it is and what it has been."

"What about what it _will be_?" Ianto asked, biting his lip.

"We'll come to that. Just tell me what you think of it." A silence. "You mean there are no good words you can use to describe your home?"

"Sexy?" Owen asked, as if he were searching for approval (though really he felt he needed nothing of the sort).

But he found it. "I'm with you there," Jack laughed, "but I'm thinking of something else."

"Happy," Ianto put forward.

"Are we?"

"Rich?"

"Is that a good thing?"

"Home," Gwen said sadly, and then, when Jack did not respond, "What sort of word are you looking for, Jack?" she asked, exasperated.

"Each one of us is like the Earth in this way. Think about it. Weevils; they're all the same. Daleks. The same. Adipose? The same. Gastropods. Graske. Mentors. Pyroviles. All the same."

"We're unique," Ianto cottoned on. "We're all unique! And so is the Earth?"

"Yes. And do you want to know why it's unique?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, I have a feeling it's not relevant," Owen replied sarcastically. "But go on."

"The Earth is a Phoenix planet. The only of its kind, as far as records show."

"That meaning…?"

"It has been reborn three times already. This is the fourth version of the Earth. Do you want me to tell you more?" Jack replied, in that tone of voice that made it sound less like a question, and more like a statement.

Gwen nodded, her eyes wide.

"Well, first things firs, how was the first Earth born?"

"God?" Ianto replied tentatively.

"Science," Owen cut in certainly.

"Neither…" Gwen said quietly, looking at the expression on Jack's face.

"Neither," Jack confirmed. "You all know about the Rift? Nothingness. That's all it was. And a little bit of that nothingness still exists today, floating just on the other side of time and space as we know it.

"And you know all about Rifters now. I'll explain what's come to light from this recent attack in a moment. But at the beginning, living creatures came into existence through creation in the Rift.

"The first version of Earth was called 'Endless Space'; after what was all around it. It was inhabited by a species called the Racnoss. You may have heard of them; I've heard that there are still some around these days, though I don't know for sure.

"The Racnoss were very aggressive towards each other and ended up in constant argument with each other. In doing so, they were partially destroying Endless Space; and the phoenix did as the phoenix knows best, and the whole of Endless Space was alight, and burned for days.

"You can probably guess round about what happened next. 'From the ashes' so to speak- though I'm not sure where exactly the ashes were- just floating, perhaps- a new planet was born; Dark Midnight. Three guesses as to why it had this name.

"The Racnoss had all gone- or so it seemed. I don't know, if the legends are true, how they managed to survive. This second Earth was inhabited by creatures called the Shadows; any Racnoss left would have been destroyed by them.

"The Shadows soon ran out of sources of food, and in their distress began preying on each other. I'm sure you can imagine what sort of creatures the Shadows were- their name is a good description. And I'm sure you can imagine what sort of planet Dark Midnight was; again, the name is a good description. If the Shadows' cannibalistic tendencies hadn't been enough, they soon began mistaking the planet for each other, and ate away gladly at their giant new source of food.

"And so, once again the planet had had enough, and was reborn. This time it was name Kuskuara by those who lived on it; the Messalians. Things seemed to get on better this time; the Messalians seemed to settle down reasonably well. Then the boasting began. 'Our town is bigger than yours', 'We have more food', 'Our women are more beautiful'. Boasting led to simple fights, simple fights led to bigger fights, and bigger fights led to war. You are accustomed, I am sure, to the after effects of war. Once more, the world was shaken, and a new one was born.

"There was a certain hope that it would get better in this new world; World Complete. Somewhere along the way, a man called Hopi foretold that this was not to be the last rebirth of the Phoenix planet; that it had one more to go. The planet was renamed Earth, and for a while people worried about how this world would end, and tried to make sure they always did the right thing. Hopi told them also, 'Remember never to forget'.

"But time went on, and the story went from fact to legend, and then it was forgotten entirely by most. Here is the Earth as it is today, and we've been given our final warning sign.

"We have all learnt some of what is right, but by no means all, and the most damning thing is that we have all forgotten, or were never told.

"Hopi said that when the blue star rose, it was time for the Phoenix to be born again; only the purest would be saved, for only they could give the Phoenix its last chance at life- rebirth is never easy, and this planet is old. Let's hope they take things better than we did."

Ianto sat down heavily in a chair, Gwen gawped at Jack, and Owen muttered unhappily, "I told you it was science."

* * *

"So what do we do?"

"Gwen, go home. Call Rhys home from work, go out, have dinner, have the best time of your life. I love you," he kissed her forehead, "stay strong. Owen, Toshiko- I think you've denied this long enough. Show each other a good time, you've deserved it; God knows you've worked your arses off for me all this time. Love you," he kissed them, too, and then turned to Ianto and Elen. "You two can stay with me, unless you have anything else you want to do. I want to be close to you."

"Can we go and check out the star?" Elen asked quietly.

"There's no harm in seeing if we can have a last attempt at helping, is there?" her father replied. "Now, everybody out of the Hub, and take anything you might want."

Regretfully the team did as they were told, and after they had walked a little way away Jack stopped them and told them to turn around.

"God I loved that place," he said quietly. He fell on to floor as if he'd had the wind knocked out of him, and as he crumpled, so did the Hub.

"What happened?!"

"I was using the power of the Rift inside me to keep the Hub standing. It was dangerous, and I probably shouldn't have tried it. But it's all or nothing now, and I'm going to need all my strength if there's anything I can do."

"We'll come with you," Owen, Tosh and Gwen each implored, but Jack refused.

"No. Go out and enjoy yourselves the best you can," he winked. "Promise me."

* * *

Jack rushed, with Ianto and Elen in tow. "Now you get the ultimate in experiences," he grinned, "a ride in the Torchwood private helicopter!"

"We have a helicopter?!" Ianto asked, stunned.

"We do now!"

* * *

"Don't bother with all that airport rubbish, or helicopter landing pads," Jack said amiably to their new pilot, as they sped towards London.

The shrunken team had surprised the poor fellow in Cardiff, and Jack, with his smooth talking and charm, had secured a ride.

"Then where am I supposed to land?!" the pilot replied, not entirely comfortable with the situation.

(The same couldn't be said for Elen and Ianto, who were enjoying the plush, luxury interior while they still could).

"Just drop us in Trafalgar Square, that'll be fine…"

"I can't land there! Especially not with all the police around investigating that star thing!"

"There's a point- do you know how they're getting on with that?"

"They haven't been able to reach it yet. But I'm still not landing there!!"

"All right. Drop us off at the star."

"At the star?!" the man spluttered. "What do you mean, at the star?!"

"You know, that big blue thing hovering in Trafalgar Square?" Jack said mockingly, but not unkindly.

The pilot frowned. "How can I drop you off 'at the star', then?"

Jack shrugged. "Just hover near it? The police haven't been able to get up from the ground; maybe we can drop in from above."

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably. But God damnit, I deserve the best death ever possible!"

The pilot raised his eyebrows, and evidently decided not to argue. "Right. Trafalgar Square it is. But if I get into trouble, you're bailing me out."

Jack saluted. "I wouldn't dream of anything else. Just do as I say, and we shouldn't run into trouble. And I may give the word that I want to get out; then open the door as quickly as you can and I'll be on my way."

"I already told you, I won't land in-"

"Who said anything about landing?"

* * *

They were now hovering over Trafalgar Square, metres away from the 'blue star'.

Jack swore. "Let me out! LET ME OUT! Fly close and then open that bloody door… NOW!"

Elen and Ianto squinted out the window to get a look at what Jack had reacted to. Somewhere in the middle of the star, the colour changed, as if a door had opened.

"Jack!" a man's voice called, seemingly from the middle of nowhere. "Quick! Get on!"

Jack cast a stricken look back at Ianto and his daughter. He kissed them both, tears running down his cheeks, apologising.

Ianto stayed frozen in his chair, not having quite got a grasp on the situation.

The man spoke again, more urgently. "Jack! Come _on_!"

Elen was sure she recognised the voice. Could it be…? No. Surely not! Not _him_! How could that happen…?

Jack jumped.

He landed in the doorway of the blue star, which seemed to close after him.

Ianto screamed.

The brightness of the star dimmed a little and Elen caught the sight of old word. She heard a familiar sound and knew she had no time. She would not be left behind; not again.

Without looking back at Ianto, she threw herself out of the helicopter and onto the star, landing just as it disappeared out of thin air right in front of Ianto's eyes.

Time froze.


End file.
